These Days
by Angel1039
Summary: Never judge a book by its cover. Ginny is struggling to find herself as well as firm ground to stand on, making friends and enemies along the way. They may go to school to practice magic, but they are still just teenagers. Lines will be pushed, crossed and even become blurred as they grow, while learning that everything they do will have consequences from fourth to seventh year.
1. These Days

**A/N: **Hogwarts Academy is a magical boarding school the students attend from 4th to 7th year, trying to show young wizard and witches how to go out and blend in the muggle world. Ginny Weasley attends with her brother Ron, both in the same grade because he is only ten months older than her. There are no houses to be sorted into and the students stay in a dorm room with another student of the same grade and gender. Every year their roommates change.

Basically I wanted to make it more like high school, but keep general concept. Everything is explained in story, but basically Dumbledore defeated Voldemort after the prophecy was made. Because his it was defeat and not he didn't just disappear, the wizarding world does not believe he will return. The younger generation doesn't know anything about him and they search for answers themselves. I haven't decided if I will continue on the story to include a war after they get out of school and I won't decide for a while. I'm guessing this story to be a good 40 chapters.

Ron and Ginny are in the same school year. Rather than being born in March, Ron's birthday is in October, right after Hermione's birthday. Ginny's birthday is moved a year earlier, still in August, but just after Harry's birthday. I am mostly following the books, but obviously cannot follow the exact story line, but books 4 through 7 are obviously the base foundation for the story.

Cho is in the same grade, rather than being a year older. Just because I have my reasons. I love all four of the houses, but unless I wanted to re-sort everyone so the story could work out how I want it to, I had to abolish the houses. I just wanted to take the characters the everyone loves and hates, mix them up a bit, letting them be teenagers in a world without a war.

My plan is always for Draco/Ginny, but this story is taking places from fourth year to seventh year and although have millions of idea, I don't exactly know how it's going to end just yet... A lot can happen in four years. Plus I'm always open to new ideas...

Oh, and I gave Harry a sister... She is something else...

I can't really think of anything else that needs to be covered just yet. Anything you have questions about, just ask and I'd be very interested in knowing what you think before I invest all this time in a story that is going no where...

* * *

**At fourteen you don't need sickness or death for tragedy….**

**Chapter One-**** September 1994**

_BANG, BANG, BANG_

"Ginevra are you awake yet?" Her mother could be heard yelling on the other side of the door. Ginny groaned to show that she heard her for the second time this morning, before pulling her pillow over her head. "I swear if I have to come back a third time…" Her mother's voice trailed off as she walked up the stairs and could be heard yelling the twins to get out of bed. Ginny let out a sigh, before pulling her head out from underneath her pillow and throwing her covers off of her.

She really wasn't up for being the one to put Molly in a bad mood. September 1st is already a stressful day in the Weasley home, after all.

She glanced around her room, sitting up in her bed and pursing her lips. She hadn't finished packing last night because she was busy trying, and failing, to beat her older brother, Ron, in chess. Her eyes fell to the floor and she noticed a letter on the floor, remembering she returned late last night to her room to find a letter from Luna.

Luna Lovegood lived just over the hill, although it was quite a big hill, with her father, who ran the Quibbler. Ginny and Luna have known each other since well before they started going to school. It mother had been quite insistent that Ginny have some girl friends growing up, but not many wizarding girls grew up nearby, at least her age. It was pretty much narrowed down to Ginny, Luna and one other girl.

Ginny bent down and picked up the letter, before standing up, finally getting out of bed. She re-read the letter as she walked around the room, gathering things and tossing them in her trunk. As soon as she started to read it again, she remembered everything Luna had to say. She mostly wanted to make sure Ginny made sure to write during the school year, since Luna was in the year below Ginny.

Ginny would now be attending Hogwarts, which according to her parents, used to be a seven year school. After they graduated and before Percy started, the system for wizard education had changed. For the first three years of education, students were split up into smaller class sizes, with school closer to their homes. This was to help individualize the students learning and to incorporate muggleborns into the wizarding world with a school full of students they can relate to.

Bill and Charlie were some of the last students to attend Hogwarts all seven years. Charlie had been in his fourth year when they spilt had come into effect and therefore, neither were affected by it.

Once you began your fourth year, all the students were sent off to Hogwarts, where there used to be houses they were sorted into, or so her parents had said. Now they were spilt up into dorms by no simpler means that picking their name from a list. Ginny didn't exactly know how it went, but she would be at least starting Hogwarts with Ron. Ginny's birthday fell just before the cut-off date for school and since Ron was only ten months older than her, they had started school together.

Starting Hogwarts would be much easier than the prep school they had attended for the first three years. When they started there, Ron and Ginny only knew the twins, Fred and George, who were already third years. However, the twins didn't mention that there would be neighboring children attending their school as well. Cedric Diggory was a third year, while Neville Longbottom was in their year with Shauna Fawcett. Luna had started at the same school a year later.

Now, as fourth years, they had at least made more friends before going off to a school with even more students. Ginny was feeling by far more comfortable about attending Hogwarts. She made friends with ease at her primary school and she excelled in class, so with any luck, Hogwarts would be the same.

Harry Potter was Ron's best friend and Ginny's crush, though she tried her best to hide it. The two of them got along rather well, but he was definitely Ron's friend, who made that very clear to his younger sister. Although Ron and Ginny were quite close, the two of them could fight and they would hold a grudge, but only for days at a time. They never wanted to be upset with one another and would always end up reconciling.

Harry always did his best to not get in the middle of the two of them, realizing it could be rather dangerous. However, they always seem to handle their temper with one another and calm down before anything happens. Harry says several times he was wondering if he should duck and cover, but then they would just stop. They wouldn't talk for some time and then it would be back to normal.

Cho Chang was one of Ginny's friends, although she also considered her the enemy because she had a crush on Harry as well. To make it worse, Harry fancied her back because she was not his best friend's sister. Although they had yet to get together, the fact that they liked each other was beyond obvious and Ginny made her best effort to make sure no one noticed how bitter it made her.

Michael Corner was always closer to Ginny rather than Harry and Ron. Since Ron insisted on being partners with Harry, he left Ginny on her own on the first day of school. Thankfully, she met Michael at breakfast that morning and she immediately noticed that he didn't seem to know anyone else very well. They immediately became partners and Ginny had to admit that he was a pretty good friend.

Neville Longbottom had always been kind of a joke to Ron and Harry, as well as the other students, although Ginny and Ron met him before they started school. Ginny never liked how others would make fun of him and she immediately became his first friend at school when she came to his defense against older students, much like how she had with Luna.

It hadn't taken Ginny very long to develop friends at the first school and she was very much hoping that it would be the same at Hogwarts.

Ginny sat down on her trunk when she finished putting everything in it, using her weight to close it enough to lock it. Fred and George told her and Ron to make sure they packed plenty of their muggle clothes. According to them, the school has muggle Fridays, in which the students dress in muggles clothes as dress code. They learn about muggles and how to do things like them. Cooking, fixing cars, cleaning and even driving, like a normal muggle teenager would.

Ginny wasn't exactly sure if she believed them, but their father loved muggles so she doubted that they would joke about something like that around him. It was apparently the school's way of incorporating wizards into the muggle world, much like how they had introduced muggleborns into the wizarding world.

She was still sitting on her trunk when her bedroom door flew open, the twins came walking into her room. They immediately announced that they were following orders and politely taking their sister's trunk outside for her.

"Ron said the Potter's will be here soon to take us to the train." George said as Ginny climbed off of her trunk.

"Apparently mom doesn't need to come see us off anymore." Fred said with a laugh as they picked up the trunk. They left her room and Ginny quickly grabbed a shirt and jeans out of her school bag, changing and tossing that pair of pajamas in the corner of her room. Her mom would wash it and it would be laying on her bed when she comes back. Running a comb quickly threw her hair, she tossed it in her school bag and shut it up, before pulling in onto her shoulder and walking out of her room. She double and triple checked that she grabbed everything, before shutting the door and heading downstairs.

Her mother was in the kitchen, piling food in front of her brothers, before ushering Ginny into a seat and piling food on a plate for her. Ginny began to eat, noticing that Ron was eating much faster than normal.

"Ron slow down before you choke." Ginny snapped on him, her stomach turning at the sight of him.

"Alright, mother." He muttered back to her, making her roll her eyes and he received a pointed look from his actual mother, before she walked out of the room.

"He just misses his lover, Harry. They haven't seen each other since the World Cup after all." George said, pinching Ron's cheek, who swatted his hand away, telling him to bugger off. The Weasleys and the Potters had attended the world cup, which had been a great match, but ended in mayhem and horror.

Since then all adults have been jumpy and children have been asking questions about deatheaters and wondering who Tom Riddle was, but no one would tell them. The Weasley children had been hoping to hear something about it at school.

"Ginny isn't even this antsy and she is the one who has a crush on Harry." Fred said with a laugh and making Ginny flush a light shade of red, but as she opened her mouth to say something back to him, Molly walked in from the living room, followed by the four Potters.

"Harry!" Ginny yelled out rather than shouting at Fred, making her turn a deeper shade of red and immediately go back to her breakfast. Fred and George were red in the face as well, trying to hold in their laughter, while Ron's ears were red from embarrassment.

* * *

Ginny endured a long ride to the train station, although sitting comfortably with her three brothers in the back seat. Ginny and Ron sat in the middle, leaving Ginny to stare at the back of Harry's head from where he sat between in the front seat next to James and his sister, Lilly on her other side. Needless to say, Ginny was thankful by the time they got to the train station.

They pushed their trunks through the train station, Fred and George leading the way and Ginny trailing behind them, while Harry and Ron were deep in conversation. She watched the twins as they approached platform ten, before they vanished behind a wall, making Ginny stop walking for a moment, Harry and Ron catching up to her.

"How'd they do that?" Ron asked, no one ever explaining this to him or his sister. Harry chuckled before he continued walking forward.

"Just walk through the wall, but make sure no muggles see you." He said as he approached the wall, disappearing just as the twins had done moments before.

"Well that's simple enough." Ginny said as she started to make her way towards the wall.

"Eura, go with Ginny." Lilly said, pushing her daughter forward to go through the passage with Ginny. She placed a pale hand on next to Ginny's on the handle of the trolley moments before they both disappeared through the wall. They reappeared on the other side, a scarlet engine gleaming in the sunlight.

Ginny looked over at the thirteen year old next to her. Her parents would be taking her to school after they left here. She had the same black hair as Harry, except she had her father's hazel eyes rather than her mother's green.

"So are you excited to start Hogwarts next year?" Ginny asked as they waited for Lilly and James to show up behind Ron. Ginny and Eura had never been the closest of friends, despite Harry and Ron trying to get them to be friends. They were friends, but Eura wasn't the type of person who opened up. To anyone.

"No." She said quite plainly, making Ginny look at her. "I think I was born the wrong way, like I came out upside down. My emotions are entirely wrong. The things I should love, I hate, and the things I should hate... I just don't have the same moral compass that Harry has." She finished off with in a low voice when Ginny glanced down at her with a confused look. James and Lilly had shown up a moment later, saying goodbye to Harry while Ron looked for a compartment.

Ginny said a quick goodbye to Eura, before heading off in the direction Ron had gone, trying to find Michael, Neville or Cho in the crowd of students. Harry caught up to her quickly, which took her by surprise, although it was only to apologize for his sister's unusualness as of recent weeks.

"Sorry about Eura. She's been acting strange all summer." Harry said to Ginny with a shrug, before rushing off to find Ron as soon as Ginny began to nod her head to say she understood. Ginny sighed as his dark hair climbed aboard the train and disappeared. She walked a little bit further down, before boarding the train.

She was only a few compartments down when she caught up with Harry, who was standing outside a compartment, talking to someone. When she got closer, she recognized the girl as Cho, making Ginny's insides turn as she approached them.

"Good summer Ginny?" Cho asked as she approached, abruptly ending her conversation with Harry as if it was not important or because she didn't want Ginny to overhear.

"Yeah, it was…" Ginny replied, trailing off towards the end when it was obvious neither of them were listening. She made to move passed them, but Cho stopped her.

"Sit with us." Cho said, gesturing Ginny into the compartment as Harry continued on his way to meet Ron. Ginny, with no good excuse, walked into the compartment, taking a seat by the window in one of the two empty seats. Other than Cho, who took the open seat next to her, Ginny did not know a single one of the other girls. Apparently Cho realized this as she introduced everyone.

"Girls, this is Ginny Weasley. We were very close friends in primary school." Cho said, Ginny forcing herself not to raise an eyebrow. She wasn't exactly sure she could consider Cho a close friend at all.

"This is Parvati and Padma Patil, their friend Millicent Bullstrode, and Lavender Brown." Cho said, the four girls nodding their heads when Cho introduced him.

"Are you Fred and George's younger sister?" The girl name Lavender asked, making Ginny raise an eyebrow before nodding her head.

"You know my brothers?" Ginny asked and Lavender sort of went pink before giggling.

"Course not, but I wish. I do know who they are and that Fred is Abigail's boyfriend though." She said and Ginny raised an eyebrow.

"Who?" Ginny asked, surprised to hear about her brother having a girlfriend she didn't know about.

"Abigail Parkinson? How have you never heard of her?" Millicent Bullstrode said quite abruptly. "She is the most popular girl in the school." She said with a wave of her hand.

"She is a sixth year." Parvati threw in quickly.

"Absolutely gorgeous." Padma added.

"She can make or break your social life at Hogwarts." Millicent said before either of the girls could say anything else. Ginny raised her eyebrows, trying to let all of it soak in. Her brother Fred had a girlfriend that he never mentioned, that so happened to be the most popular girl in school. She wondered for a moment if Ron had any clue about all of this, then began to wonder if he would even care.

"I'm sure you'll be fine. You're Fred's younger sister after all." Cho added in, which is the most comforting thing she had heard since she sat down in the compartment. Ginny nodded her head, before getting up and excusing herself from the compartment, wanting to get away and continue walking the train. Sitting with Cho and her friends is not how she wanted to spend her train ride to school.

She left the compartment, shutting the door and making her way down the aisle. The train was loud with chatter, some compartment doors opened, while others were shut for privacy. After she walked passed a few compartments, she came to a stop. Students were blocking the aisle, several of them trying to get passed. Ginny waited patiently until she could continue walking.

There was a compartment with five other students in it, talking in low voices but with the door open. Ginny glanced sideways as the bushy haired girl spoke up.

"It's our choice Justin. They never have to know if we choose it to be that way." She said to the boy sitting across from her. The dark skinned boy next to her nodded his head in agreement. Ginny quickly began walking again, not wanting to find out what they were talking about. As the busy haired girl was saying, it is their business.

Ginny continued to walk down the aisle until she found the compartment that Harry and Ron were in, the door standing open. Across from them sat Michael and Neville, both of them waving her over to say hi.

"How was your summers?" Ginny asked them as she leaned against the compartment door. She could tell Ron wasn't too pleased to have her hanging around, but he had to keep his mouth shut. With Harry it was one thing, but Neville and Michael were definitely mutual friends.

They chatted for a while about their summers, Ginny stepping into the compartment more to let a group of students pass by. She looked to her side and noticed that the group of students was led by Fred and George, Fred's arm around some remarkably beautiful girl. She had long, shiny black hair with ice blue eyes and perfect complexion, leaving Ginny to assume she must be Abigail.

"Hey Gin." George said when they stopped next to her.

"This is our little sister, Ginny." Fred said in Abigail's direction, who smiled the most gorgeous smile Ginny had ever seen.

"She is so cute." Abigail said sweetly. "I will definitely be keeping a look out for her." She finished with another smile, before the three of them began walking again, a group of no less than five students following them. Ginny watched them leave before looking back into the compartment at the guys, all of them were staring at her.

"Why didn't he introduce me?" Ron asked, his voice sounding put out.

"He was introducing her to Abigail Parkinson." Michael said and Ginny quickly took her eyes off of Ron and looked over to Michael.

"How is it that you knew about her and I didn't have a clue?" Ginny asked him and he smirked.

"I know my women." He said, the smirk never leaving his lips. Ginny rolled her eyes, looking over to Ron, who looked just as bewildered as she was sure she had.

"I guess you didn't know that Fred had a girlfriend either." Ginny said to him and he shook his head.

"Fred is dating that girl?" Ron asked, sounding shocked that Fred had such a wonderful looking girl, who he didn't know existed until right now.

"I'm sorry, but what is this big deal with this Abigail girl." Harry asked, jumping into the conversation, making Ginny finally looked over to him and they made eye contact for a single moment before Michael spoke up.

"She is the most popular girl at Hogwarts. She has complete control over the social scene." Michael said, receiving weird looks from all the guys, but he ignored them. "That is why they introduced Ginny. They wanted to make sure Ginny had an in with her crowd." He explained, leaving all the guys to glace at Ginny, who merely shrugged.

"I never heard of her until the girls told me." Ginny admitted before Neville immediately changed the subject, to which Ginny did not object.

* * *

Ginny sat in a carriage riding up the trail to the school. She sat next to Neville, across from the bushy haired girl from earlier, with a black haired girl next to her, a girl with blonde hair next to her and a boy with white blonde hair sitting across from her. She talked in hushed voices to Neville once or twice, but other than that, it was a very silent ride.

When the carriage came to a stop in front of this magnificent castle, Ginny paused for a moment to take in its beauty. It took her a few moments to realize the other five were waiting for her to get out. She exited the carriage, Neville going to follow her before the girl with black hair stood up and pushed him back down into the seat, exiting the carriage followed by the blonde girl.

"What did you do that for?" Ginny asked the girl sharply, making her stop and raise an eyebrow.

"You should always let the more attractive people off before the freaks. You should just be happy I let you off before me." The girl said and although she was truthfully very pretty, she had a slightly upturned nose, so that now that her nose was turned up in the air, it looked even worse.

"Just because you _think_ you're pretty, doesn't mean you can treat other people like they don't matter." Ginny snapped back, making the girl narrow her eyes.

"You're going to regret saying that me." She said, before calling the girl behind her, Daphne as she called her, to follow her. Ginny rolled her eyes, not the least bit worried about what the girl could to do to her. It wasn't until she turned around that she noticed the other three staring at her.

"Are you coming or what, Neville?" She asked him, before he clambered out of the carriage, following her as she walked up to the castle. He followed her as she followed the other students into the castle, where a tall witch in green dress robes was standing just inside the door. She was calling all of the fourth years over to her as they separated from the rest of the crowd of students.

After dinner, Neville and Ginny stood a short way away from Harry and Ron in the entrance hall, staring at the lady in front of them all, her lips pursed, waiting for the last of the students to enter the school. When the last of the students entered the school and she was sure she had all the fourth years, she began to speak to them.

"I am Professor McGonagall and I will be assigning you to your dormitories." She explained the silent body of students in front of her. "Many of you may have heard about the old sorting procedures in which students were placed into house dormitories. Although I approved of the old sorting procedures, one could see the conformity it made as the houses always had the hardest time getting along with one another."

"Because there are not houses, there can be no house points. We will be giving and taking points by your year in school. You needn't worry about Quidditch this year as it has been cancelled for both terms." McGonagall said, a stern look on her face once several students began to protest to having no Quidditch. "For each year there are three common rooms. Depending on the size of your entire year, you will have six to eight girls or boys in your dormitory."

"For your year, there will be two common rooms with six girls and six boys, while the third will have eight and eight. Each common room will lead to the boys and girls dormitories, where you will be staying with one other roommate. Each year you will have a different roommate. Your 'Head of House', for lack of a better term, will be either myself, Professor Snape or Professor Slughorn." She explained to them, while they all listened intently, not wanting to end up in the wrong place in the massive castle.

McGonagall then began to name off the students, separating them into three groups. She had done Slughorn's house first, followed by Snape's house, which meant the remaining students would belong to her. Ginny glanced around, knowing quite a few of the students, recognizing some from the trip here and meeting some new faces.

"Potter-Weasley." McGonagall said as the first set of roommates under her charge. Ginny rolled her eyes, wondering how they managed to be roommates, while glancing around at the girls to could possibly be roommates with. She then noticed the black haired girl was still waiting to be called, making Ginny focus very hard on McGonagall.

"Parkinson-Greengrass." She called out next and Ginny recognized the two friends from the carriage were now roommates. Ginny was just thankful to not be paired with girl called Parkinson. Who happened to share a last name with the other pretty black haired girl, which had to be a coincidence, right?

"Finnigan-Thomas." She called out, while Ginny did not recognize either of the boys, though she might have seen one of them on the train ride here. "Chang-Brown." Cho was now roommates with the girl Ginny had met in her compartment on the train. McGonagall then placed Neville and Michael together, before naming off the twin Patil girls. Finally the only four left to be called were Ginny, the bushy haired girl, a tall dark skinned boy and the blonde male from the carriage ride.

"Zabini-Malfoy." McGonagall called out first, although the two of them already moved over to the third group. "Granger-Weasley." She called out last and finally. The two girls' eyes met for a moment, before they walked over to the third group, waiting for the next instructions. Almost immediately after McGonagall finished calling off names, two other professors walked into the hall.

"This is Professor Snape." McGonagall introduced a tall, dangerous looking man with long black hair and a terrible sneer. "And Professor Slughorn." She said introducing a round, jolly man with a balding head. "We will lead you to your dormitories." She said, before the three professors gathered their students.

* * *

Ginny looked around the room that she was now sharing with the girl named Granger, who was doing the same thing. At the foot of one of the beds was Ginny's belongings, leaving her to assume the rest belonged to the other girl. There was a ginger cat laying on the opposite bed from Ginny.

"Well, I'm Hermione." The bushy haired girl said introducing herself as Ginny approached the cat to find out if he was friendly. "That's Crookshanks. He is brilliant, honestly, I'm not just bias." Hermione explained and Ginny smiled.

"I'm Ginny and I would love to have a cat." She said scratching Crookshanks behind the ear. "All I got is six lousy brothers." Ginny said before sitting down on her bed.

"You have six brothers?" Hermione asked astonished and Ginny nodded, still taking in the rest of the room.

"All of them are older. My brother Ron is in the same grade as us. Fred and George are sixth years." Ginny explained and Hermione looked at her with interest.

"Isn't it a Fred Weasley who is dating Abigail Parkinson?" Hermione asked and Ginny nodded, pretending that it wasn't news she just learned about on the train. "You have a complete in at this school if your brother is dating Abigail." Hermione said excitedly, but Ginny merely shrugged, remembering the other girl.

"We have a Parkinson in our grade. I set her off remember?" Ginny asked Hermione who say down on her bed and nodded.

"Yeah, that's her younger sister Pansy, but for all we know they might not get along." Hermione suggested and Ginny nodded weakly. She wanted more friends when she arrived at Hogwarts, hoping to rise in popularity. She had a foolproof way and she had to insult the younger sister.

"Well I guess we'll just have to find out tomorrow." Ginny admitted, before opening her trunk and started to take out all of her knick-knacks to place around the room. Like her Weird Sisters poster.

"Are you excited for classes?" Hermione asked and Ginny quickly glanced at Hermione, before looking back in her trunk.

"Well, I wasn't going for excitement, but I am ready for them." Ginny said before looking at all of her school books. "I do wish they gave us our schedules already." Ginny admitted, saying it would have been nice to know what books need to be in her school bag for the morning.

"Well, all the dormitories are on the fourth floor now. The ongoing row of doors in the corridor led into the common rooms of other students. The professors' quarters are at the end of the hall." Hermione explained, before showing Ginny a copy of a big book with the title 'Hogwarts: A History', across the cover. "I read in this all about the old houses they used to have. Gryffindors and Ravenclaws had to go all the way to the seventh floor to get to their tower." Hermione said quite enthusiastically. Ginny nodded her head slowly, looking at Hermione carefully.

"Although I find it much more interesting coming from you rather than McGonagall, I can't help but think that you are the only student currently attending the school that knows that." Ginny confessed to Hermione, who shrugged a bit before nodding.

"I like to read." Hermione said simply, this time much more calm. Ginny smiled, noticing that her roommate was holding back all the information she was dying to tell someone.

"Well, I'd still like to hear more." Ginny said, but Hermione was practically going the second those words finished leaving Ginny's lips. Hermione Granger wasn't nearly as bad as the other girls Ginny knew.

* * *

Ginny and Hermione walked down the Great Hall the next morning after they finished getting ready, although both still in their pajamas. The girls had stayed up pretty late talking, so they were both very tired when they sat down in the first couple of empty seats they found. As they began to fill their breakfast plates, Hermione seemed to wake up a lot faster than Ginny, who was practically sleeping in her oatmeal.

"Miss. Granger. Miss. Weasley." McGonagall said as she walked over to them. She handed each of them a piece of paper and before rushing off to the other students. Both girls completely ignored their breakfast to look over their schedules. After a quick glance at her schedule, she looked at the what she had for today which was luckily enough a Friday.

"I have muggle studies all day." Ginny said, checking her schedule a couple times before she said anything.

"Everyone does." Hermione said and Ginny looked over to her roommate. "You know how muggleborns go to a special school first through third year to help them adjust to the wizarding world?" She asked the red head, who nodded her head. "Well Hogwarts has muggle Fridays to help wizards learn how to blend into the muggle world." She explained in a matter-of-factly tone. So the twins were tell the truth. Who knew?

"Do you we get to wear muggle clothes?" Ginny asked and Hermione looked at Ginny with a bit of surprise.

"That's the one thing you ask." Hermione asked rhetorically. "Anyways, yes on Fridays our uniforms are muggle clothes." Hermione answered and Ginny nodded her head with interest.

"I have one more question. Do you know everything?" Ginny asked and Hermione blushed a light pink, before saying they needed to eat quickly so they could get back up to their room to change.

* * *

Ginny stood between Hermione and Ron, waiting for the class to begin. They stood with Harry and Michael, while on the other side of Michael was the Thomas kid, the blonde Malfoy boy and his roommate Zabini. There were six other students from Snape's house standing a short distance away.

"Good morning everyone." A lady said as she walked into the room, causing all of the students to abruptly stop talking. "I am Professor Burbage and I will be your muggle studies professor every Friday morning for the next three years." She said introducing herself. "I would like to start with a simple assessment of how many students have a general idea of muggle life." She said, before explaining directions for students who were muggle acquainted to step forward.

A couple students stepped forward and Ginny noticed Hermione glance around the room, her eyes landing on Dean Thomas. Their eyes lingered on each for a moment, before they stepped forward and joined the two other students. She then asked the four of them to explain how they have had relations with muggles so she had a general idea how much they knew.

The first student was a half-blood that grew up with his muggle father when his witch mother died. The second student was a muggleborn, before it came up to Hermione's turn. She opened her mouth, shut it and then finally spoke.

"My mom's a witch, but we lived as muggles." She said quite firmly and the Thomas boy said he's a muggleborn as far as he knows.

"So we will have four groups and they will be the team leader. Two groups of three and two groups of four." She said waving her hands and telling them to get into groups. Ginny rushed towards Hermione, while Michael, Harry and Ron rushed over to the Thomas boy. Malfoy and Zabini slowly walked towards Ginny and Hermione, while the others were already in the other groups.

"Muggle studies is a course you will be taking every Friday for the next four years. Different professors in different areas, of course, but I'm sure most of you will find something you enjoy." She explained to all of them when they were in their groups. "This class is designed for muggle hobbies and interests. We will be learning about their sports, aerobic workouts, art, photography. The list goes on and in your seventh year you will be allowed to choose you own elective courses." She elaborated for all of them. Hermione quickly raised her hand and Burbage looked over to her, asking for her name.

"Hermione Granger." She said carefully and Burbage eyed her carefully for a moment, before asking her to proceed with her question. "Well, our time tables say that our next class is muggle studies with Professor McGonagall, followed by more muggle studies with Professor Snape." She said slowly and Burbage nodded.

"Well of course there are other professors helping. I simply couldn't handle teaching every student, every Friday, including their future elective courses." She said simply, before going on to explain about the next two classes. "Muggle cooking is a course you will be taking the next three years. Professor McGonagall will be teaching you this, along with muggle cleaning and other muggle home life must-knows." She explained to the students, as she started to hand out books on muggle learning.

"Professor Snape has a more wide range of subjects, but they depend much more on your ability. You will watch muggle films, learn how to fix and drive a car, muggle child care, as well as arts and foreign languages." She explained to them, making Ginny look at Hermione. How exactly was Snape going to teach them about muggle childcare? Other students seemed to realize this as well, while a couple others were excited to learn that they would be learning how to drive.

Professor McGonagall had about the same to say as Burbage. She explained how she would be teaching them to clean with electricity and effort, rather than charms and spells. She will teach them how muggles cook everything from breakfast to dinner, baking, deserts, etc…

Snape had the same thing to say, although he seemed much less enthusiastic, but that's how he always seemed. He did remind them several times that their success in the class was fully dependent on their effort and, in some cases, skill. He will simply be there to instruct and make sure none of them are thickheaded enough to kill themselves.

Anyways, they were back into their dorm room by four in the afternoon. With two hours to go before dinner and nothing to do, they decided to try and socialize with the other students. Although, when they went into the common room, no one was there. They exchanged looks with one another, noticing everyone locked themselves in their room, or they were somewhere else in the castle.

"Well, let's try the Great Hall." Ginny suggested and Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"Dinner isn't for another two hours." Hermione reminded Ginny, who shrugged her shoulders and headed towards the door.

"Well, to be honest, it's the only place I really know how to get to so far." Ginny admitted with a smile, waiting for Hermione to follow her. The two of them walked out the door and heading down to the Great Hall. The headed down the four floors and found the doors to the Great Hall wide open. The hall was full of students, all talking and gossiping, watching the other students.

Ginny and Hermione walked through the hall, watching the students talk to old friends or meet new classmates. Hermione seen Cho and Lavender, rushing right over to them, while Ginny kept walking. She eyed the crowd of students looking for familiar faces, remembering a lot of them from her primary school for first through third years.

Through the crowd she spotted her twin brothers' red hair in the crowd. Abigail was sitting next to Fred and sitting just by her was her sister Pansy and her friend Daphne. Ginny watched them from a distance, wondering what would happen if she just walked over there.

"Pretty girls always lie, the smart girls play dumb and the dumb girls will spend their days trying to be both." A voice said from behind her, making her quickly turn around. "Draco Malfoy." The blonde boy said to her, sticking out his hand. Ginny looked at him for a moment, before shaking his hand.

"Ginny Weasley." She said introducing herself. "You seem to know a lot about them." Ginny said to start a conversation with him and he simply smirked at her.

"I know a bit about them. Primary school and all of that." He said brushing it off. "So which are you, Ginny Weasley? Pretty, smart or dumb?" He asked her and she looked at him, giving him a questioning look.

"You tell me. You seem to know more than I do." She said to him and he smirked once again.

"I think you're better than all of them." He said to her, smiling behind his smirk. Ginny smiled, laughing a little bit and looking at Draco Malfoy with interest and curiosity.

_Your heart has never been broken  
Your pride has never been stolen  
Not yet not yet  
One of these days  
I bet your heart'll be broken  
I bet your pride'll be stolen  
I bet I bet I bet I bet  
One of these days_


	2. Break Me Down

**A/N:**** So I forgot to mention the song from the last chapter was by Foo Fighters. The quote at the beginning of the chapter is not mine, but just one I found on my computer. And I really own nothing else, obviously.**

* * *

**Chapter Two**

The castle was beyond beautiful and the classes were really good, with mostly decent professors. Headmaster Dumbledore was a riot, as well as completely brilliant. The food was great, there were plenty of grounds to roam around and there were surprises around every corner. Despite all the wonderful things about Hogwarts, this is not what Ginny had expected entirely.

At her primary school, she honestly had a lot of friends. She got along with almost all of the people she went to school with before, but they all seemed to disappear into the crowd of students at Hogwarts. No one in this school was even bothering to get to know her, despite the effort she put out there.

She blamed Pansy Parkinson completely. As Fred had explained to her, Pansy had complained about her to Abigail. Although his girlfriend was very interested to get to know her, her sister's opinion means more. All because of some stupid comment Ginny made to Pansy and she decided to go out of her way to make things harder for Ginny.

Abigail was the most popular girl in the school and she had complete control over the social scene. She decides who is part of the crowd, who is outside the crowd and who is just a simple nobody in the school. Since Pansy was her sister, she was pretty much guaranteed to follow in her older sister's footsteps. Although Abigail left Ginny alone, she very much doubted that Pansy would when she gained control of the school.

Pansy had the makings of a tormenting tyrant, at least to Ginny, making her not look forward to her sixth year if things did not change. Pansy, however, seemed to be making sure that Ginny stayed completely outside her crowd. She would go out of her way to try to humiliate Ginny in front of as many people as possible.

If Ginny was stuck in the middle of a crowded room, she was sure Pansy would find her and immediately start some thoughtless banter.

A month had passed since school began and, other than Pansy ruining Ginny chance at making friends, everything else was going actually quite well. Ginny knew her way to all of her classes and figured out when she would have time to stop by her room between classes. Even the classes in general were going fairly well.

On Mondays and Wednesdays she had Potions with Slughorn, who thinks she is an absolute remarkable talent. Then, Transfiguration with McGonagall, who always looked quite strict, but Ginny had yet to see her act as mean as she looked. The class after lunch is Defense against the Dark Arts with Snape, who is a dark and greasy man who knows quite _a lot_ about the subject he is teaching.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays its Herbology with Sprout, who is a lot better than her previous Herbology professor. Then it's Charms with Flitwick, who has a great sense of humor and lack of discipline. Last is History of Magic with Professor Binns, which is just completely boring beyond all belief. Although, on the first Tuesday, all of the students were asking questions about Tom Riddle, deatheaters and the world cup. He refused to answer any of their questions.

He did, however, say that it was too recent to be History studied in his class. Recent enough that their parents had to know something about him.

Ginny enjoyed Fridays. It was like having an extra day off from school with scheduled activities. In the morning with Burbage they were currently learning about muggle aerobic workouts, so it really started the day off well. After Burbage they worked with McGonagall learning the basics to muggle cooking and household muggle cleaning products. Snape was at the end of the day and that time was mostly spent watching old muggle films, that could actually be pretty boring, but some were actually quite good.

Ginny currently sat in the Great Hall with her roommate Hermione on one side of her and Draco Malfoy on the other side. Hermione was, of course, talking to other students by them, like Harry and Ron. Draco was talking to his roommate, Blaise Zabini, while Ginny sat there, waiting to hear what Dumbledore had to say about Quidditch.

A month had passed so far and no one was told why there would not be Quidditch this year. Dumbledore had told them 'all in good time' for many nights, but last night he said he would be telling them tonight. A lot of the student discussions were revolving around that.

"Perhaps the parents complained about it being too dangerous?" Harry suggested to Hermione, Ron, Dean and Seamus.

"My mother would." Ginny and Ron said at the same time, before making eye contact and smiling at one another. Ginny was always closest with her brother Ron, although he didn't like her tagging along with him and Harry.

"I doubt that. Why would Professor Dumbledore have waited so long to tell us that." Hermione pointed out and the others nodded, realizing it was a silly idea. A couple more ideas were tossed around, before they fell silent, sick of listening to Hermione shoot them all down, which made Ginny smile. Hermione Granger, clearly putting the guys in their place.

After what seemed like forever, the Great Hall immediately began to quiet down when they had seen Dumbledore walk up to his podium.

Hogwarts, it seemed, would be hosting the Triwizard Tournament, which had all the students on the edge of their seats, especially the ones who had heard of it before. As Dumbledore explained it, three students from three different schools complete in three extremely dangerous tasks. The champions compete in the tasks over the course of the year and no one under the age of seventeen was allowed to put forth their entry.

Several students were outraged and Ginny could clearly hear Fred and George yelling over the other students. When Dumbledore silenced them all, he then welcomed the students from the other two schools. The girls from Beauxbatons and the boys from Durmstrang made their entrances along with their headmaster or headmistress. They all waited for the other students to settle in, before he proceeded to inform the students of the tournament.

Dumbledore then revealed the Goblet of Fire, explaining that anyone who wanted to enter the tournament needed to write their name and school on a piece of parchment and toss it into the flames. He gave them until dinner time on Halloween to enter and told them to think it over carefully before entering.

Food magically appeared the moment he finished his speech. The hall immediately filled the students' voices, talking about the tournament in between bites. Ginny, Ron and Harry spent most of the dinner in deep discussion about how Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian seeker, was a 7th year at Durmstrang and was without a doubt was going to be their champion.

* * *

The days in October seemed to slip by as Ginny began to grow used to her daily life at Hogwarts. The more days that passed, the less she wanted to be accepted by the popular students, or better yet, just to start all over. Although, the past couple days, Pansy had actually been leaving Ginny alone. Perhaps she got bored with the red head, but Ginny assumed she was planning something big.

It was a Wednesday morning when Ginny was tiredly making her way down to the potions classroom. Despite Slughorn being a very decent professor, Ginny wasn't a big fan of the class. The class was filled with not a single one of Ginny's friends, but all the gossiping girls, and Ron. Ginny, of course, chose to sit with Ron over the gossiping girls, but it didn't make the class any better.

As Ginny worked on her potion, following the instructions step by step, Ron struggled next to her. He was trying, much harder than Ginny really ever seen him try at anything, but it wasn't doing him any good. She assumed he was actually trying because he didn't like how his sister had such ease when it came to potions.

"Take a deep breath and just do exactly as the instructions tell you." Ginny said to him when she realized his potion was a completely different color and texture from hers, which was nearly perfect.

"Did I ask for your help?" He asked her harshly and Ginny scoffed.

"You didn't need to, but forget it." She said, before transporting some of her potion into a vial, cleaned out her cauldron and handing it in to Professor Slughorn, who looked quite pleased. He dismissed her early from class, as he did with all of the students who finished early. Ginny headed back towards her table to grabbed her things, noticing Pansy getting up to turn her potion in.

Not wanting to be stuck alone with Pansy, Ginny hurried and dropped all of her stuff in her bag. She swung her bag over her shoulder, wished Ron luck in repairing his potion and took off out of the dungeon before Pansy even finished turning in her potion. Ginny raced up the steps and quickly walked to the first floor, finally slowing down when she reached the courtyard, distracted by the beautiful day.

She cut through the courtyard to get to the hallways on the other side, stopping to enjoy the scenery for a while. Her second class didn't start until eleven so she had plenty of time to relax. She enjoyed cutting through any courtyard that didn't take her completely out of her way, if the weather permitted at least. She had expected to have Quidditch, which would have meant more time to enjoy the grounds and scenery.

"Hey, Ginny Weasley." A voice called out, making Ginny wonder why she stopped to enjoy the fresh air. She also wondered why Pansy obviously made a complete effort to catch up to her. "You took off pretty quickly from class. I wanted to talk to you." She said sweetly as she approached Ginny, her potions book resting in her arms.

"You wanted to talk to me?" Ginny asked, quite perplexed by Pansy's behavior. Ginny had all of her stuff in her bag before Pansy finished talking to Slughorn. Pansy had to grab all of her stuff and catch up the distance that Ginny ran in that short of time period. Yet, here she was, practically right behind Ginny, looking very calm, collected and very well put together.

"I noticed you spend a great deal of time with Draco Malfoy." Pansy pointed out to Ginny, who raised an eyebrow, wondering why Pansy wanted to talk about Draco. Ginny was actually surprised that Pansy even knew who Draco Malfoy was since he wasn't in her close group of friends.

"He's pretty decent and I'd consider him a friend. Why, what's up?" Ginny asked, really curious to know why Pansy was seeking Ginny in solitude to not insult her. Why did Pansy want to talk to her about Draco?

"I think you should reconsider that." She said firmly, making both of Ginny's eyebrows shoot up. Although she was tempted to just walk away, curiosity got the better of her and she stuck around to hear what Pansy had to say.

"Come again?" Ginny asked, not sure if she heard Pansy right.

"Ditch Draco Malfoy and I may just open up a spot for you among my friends." Pansy offered to Ginny, who was eyeing her very carefully. A golden ticket into the group of friends she wanted to be friends with and all she had to do was ditch the first friend she made at Hogwarts, other than her roommate.

"I don't know. He doesn't seem as bad as you are making him out to be." Ginny said, not really sure what she should say. She never anticipated Pansy having a conversation with her about anything at all. Let alone about her friendship with Draco Malfoy.

"Everything about him is just secrets and lies. It's how we grew up and Draco," Pansy paused for a moment as if now choosing her words very carefully, "he was always a natural." Pansy explained to Ginny who raised an eyebrow. Pansy and Draco definitely seemed to know each other previously. Perhaps it was the same primary school. "Drop him and you could very well end up with the school in the palm of your hands." Pansy offered one last time, before giving Ginny a stern look, before continuing on her way back to their common room.

* * *

In Transfiguration, Hermione opened Ginny's eyes to what the whole thing meant. For over a month, Ginny complained that people would always stare at her when she is hanging out with Draco. She had also noticed that he doesn't have very many friends, or people he would consider a friend to him. Ginny always assumed him to be a bit of a loner, but perhaps it was just because she hadn't seen him with a group of people.

She said the Pansy may also be worried about what Ginny could do as the enemy. Hermione reminded Ginny that she is a beautiful, brilliant and talented witch with a great personality, that the school would come to see in time. Then she added that she would still be Ginny's friend whether she took Pansy's offer or not.

"You think I want to be friends with her?" Ginny snapped, causing a couple of the nearby classmates to look at her. McGonagall looked up, but Ginny and Hermione were staring down at their paper so she went back to her work.

"I never said you did." Hermione said after a long period of silence. "I know you want to be popular and I didn't know if you would put up with Pansy to achieve that." She explained to Ginny who scoffed, although she hadn't fully made her decision, she felt that if she chose Pansy over Draco it would just be wrong.

"Wanted. I don't want to be a part of that anymore. That isn't me anymore." Ginny said quite firmly, but even still, Hermione didn't look like she believed her. Regardless, they both returned to their work, not wanting to risk getting into trouble.

To make a point to Pansy, after lunch, Ginny made sure to sit by Draco and Blaise for Defense. Hermione had rolled her eyes at Ginny's idea, before taking a seat next to Harry. When Pansy finally entered the classroom with Daphne and Cho, Ginny was in full conversation with Draco about the upcoming Halloween feast this Monday.

Ginny made eye contact with Pansy for just a moment. Long enough for Pansy to know it was deliberate, before going back to her conversation with Draco. Ginny could hear Pansy's loud footsteps pass their table, Daphne quickly following her. A moment later Snape entered the classroom, the students immediately going quiet.

He walked to the front of the classroom and stood at his desk. His eyes scanned the classroom before they landed on the table Ginny was sitting at with Draco and Blaise. His black eyes lingered on them for a long moment, before he addressed the rest of the class. Ginny raised an eyebrow, looking over to Draco, who simply shrugged, while Blaise paid no attention to them.

It was always like this whenever she felt people looking at her whenever she was with Draco. It was clear that they were just friends, but everyone was always looking at them as if they were wondering why. Wondering why the two of them were friends and why they seemed oblivious to people objecting to their friendship.

The following day in Herbology, Ginny sat with Draco, Blaise and Michael like she always did. The whole class period she could hear the students from Slughorn's house whispering, while Padma looked like she was dying to gossip with her sister. Neville, Seamus and Dean kept sending dirty looks towards their group. None of the guys in her group seemed to notice.

Ginny always noticed, but she refused to let others know that she knew they were looking. Ignorance is bliss, right?

In Charms, she sat in between Draco and Harry, and on the other side of them were Blaise and Dean, respectively. During the practical portion of the class, Ginny would be talking to Draco and she could feel tension radiating from the seats on the other side of her.

Once again, Hermione explained everything to Ginny in History. How Pansy obviously is not happy that she turned down her offer of friendship and popularity. She explained that Pansy made it clear that she does not like her or Draco, therefore the school as a whole will not like the two of them either.

"The fact that Pansy dislikes you both, it gives other students reason to gossip when they see you two together." She explained simply as she half listened to what Binns was saying, scratching notes into her notebook in her tiny handwriting.

"Well they can just bugger off." Ginny said simply, glancing at Hermione's notes for something she missed Binns say when Hermione was talking to her.

"They're not alone." She said and Ginny raised an eyebrow with interest. "Harry and Ron strongly disapprove of your friendship with him, and they're not a fan of Blaise either. Dean, Seamus and Neville's opinions don't differ much from Harry and Ron's, and the other girls don't want to upset Pansy by liking him or you." She explained how everyone that was in McGonagall's house rejected Ginny's friendship with Draco.

"What about you?" Ginny asked Hermione in a quiet voice, who bit her lip and kind of shrugged.

"I haven't heard the best things about him, but I'm not one to judge. I can't say anything about who you pick to be friends with, because after all, we are friends." Hermione simplified, saying in a sweet way that she wasn't a big fan of the friendship either. As Hermione had put it, no one was really a fan of fact that Ginny and Draco were friends.

* * *

Ginny sat in front of the fire in the common room. It was still early in the evening so most of her classmates were still awake and hanging out in the common room. Hermione was sitting in her favorite chair by the fireplace, finishing up a paper for potions. The parchment hung over the chair, where Crookshanks swatted at it for a couple seconds, before climbing into Ginny's lap.

"At least your cat likes me." Ginny said, scratching Crookshanks behind his ear as her curled up in her lap, purring audibly.

"He's a smart cat." Hermione said absentmindedly as she worked on her conclusion.

"Maybe it's all rumors. I should just talk to Draco about all of it." Ginny admitted and Hermione said nothing, writing her last few words quickly. She lifted her quill from the page and smiled, looking down at her paper accomplished. She then rolled it up and looked over to Ginny, who was watching Hermione. "You really are a bookworm." Ginny said with a laugh and Hermione simply shrugged.

"That may be true, which means that what they say about Draco may be true." Hermione simplified for Ginny, who shifted in her seat, which aggravated Crookshanks, but he simply readjusted himself and continued napping.

"What do they even say about him?" Ginny asked, not really in touch with all of the school gossip. Hermione was Ginny's only ears to the school's gossip since anything about her will only reach her ears through their year's bookworm.

"Nothing too profound or unbelievable." Hermione said, but Ginny waited for her to continue. "Mostly that he is a cold, dishonest and untrustworthy bloke. He doesn't like a lot of people and doesn't even treat any one you can call of friend of his with any respect. It's all the same, just worded differently." Hermione explained and Ginny shook her head.

"I have never seen any of that in him, nor does he treat me like an inferior. Blaise is his best mate and, well, they insult each other in a good natured way." Ginny said, while Hermione chuckled a bit, before shrugging and giving in.

"Perhaps you are right, or maybe he deems only you two worthy of his respect. Regardless, do you really want to risk knowing the truth by asking him?" Hermione asked Ginny thoughtfully, making the redhead pause and pull her legs underneath her on the couch. Crookshanks fell to the floor, disgruntled and hissing. Ginny subconsciously apologized and the cat moved to Hermione's lap to resume his nap.

"What do you mean?" She asked Hermione who sighed.

"I mean, maybe he doesn't have a past and he just deals with the rumors. However, if he does have a past of being what everyone says about him, will that change your opinion of him? Your friendship with him could depend on how much you want to know so soon." Hermione explained, reminding Ginny that despite the rumors and the staring, school had only been in session for going on two months.

Ginny pondered what Hermione had said for a while, staring into the fire. Perhaps she should just get to know Draco and find out for herself who he is, although she could ask questions about it. Some way to nonchalantly bring up all the rumors or staring.

* * *

Ginny walked to her second part of muggle studies for the day with Hermione. Once they reached the classroom, which had transformed to have several little kitchens, they went their separate ways. Today was a practical cooking lesson and although they were all grouped within their own house, Ginny did not have Hermione in her group.

Today, Ginny was in a group with Harry, Ron and Dean, all who were firmly against her friendship with Draco. Not to mention, up to date with the various rumors about him and any that may be going around about her. Hermione was partnered with Draco, Blaise and Michael on the other side of the room, out of earshot and not within direct sight.

McGonagall walked into the classroom, saying that she hopes everyone paid attention to their previous lesson, before waving her wand. The instructions appeared on the chalkboard and the students immediately set to work. Of course, Harry and Ron hadn't been paying very much attention last week, but thankfully Dean was muggleborn and could help Ginny with ease.

For a while Dean and Ginny prepped the food, while giving tasks out to Harry and Ron. They would quickly show them what to do, before leaving them to do it, while working on something else. For the first half of the class, it was all hard work and limited to no talking. However, that will never last very long with groups of teenagers.

A student tried to use magic during the lesson and another student shouted out to McGonagall about it. The two students got into a fight and McGonagall came over to break it up and handle discipline. Students began to talk quietly in groups now that there was a distraction. The silence had been broken and as a natural reaction, teenagers began to talk.

"Hey sis, haven't been able to talk to you for a while." Ron said, while waiting for a pot of water to boil. It was true, they hardly speak to or see each other, despite the classes that they share. This was quite a change for the two of them, once as inseperable as Fred and George.

"I suspect we've been busy with school. Hogwarts is nothing like any of the primary schools from what I hear." Ginny said, trying to keep the conversation light. He was her brother after all and Hermione made it clear that Ron was not a fan of Draco in the least. Although she couldn't care less what Pansy's opinion was, Ron's opinion usually carried a lot of weight.

"Yeah, I hear a lot of things, too." He said simply, before turning to look at Ginny. "So, Draco Malfoy, eh?" Ron asked Ginny, diving right into what she least wanted to talk about. Leave Ron to be the blunt one, of course. What could he honestly have against another student already? Although it has been almost two months and that is a ridiculously long time to teenagers.

"What about him?" Ginny asked with a certain amount of vagueness.

"I know your friends with him and I know you hear what they say about him." Ron said quickly and Ginny crossed her arms, before uncrossing them and going back to work. She then calmly spoke.

"Yes to both, but I am far outside of the school's main source of gossip, therefore I heard it from Hermione." Ginny admitted to him, looking down at what she was prepping and trying not to pay attention to Ron, who was still looking at her.

"I have heard plenty things about him." Ron said and Ginny let out a single laugh.

"I didn't recognize anything Hermione told me in him." Ginny said firmly, which was mostly true, other than the fact that he actually really didn't like most people.

"You hardly know the bloke." Ron pointed out and Ginny laughed.

"What like you do?" Ginny asked him back in the same mocking tone. "You know what they say about appearances." Ginny reminded him and he shook his head.

"You know what, yeah, appearances can be deceiving, but most of the time, what you see is what you get." Ron said to her, his face turning a slight shade of red, before telling Dean that the water was now boiling. Ginny stared at him shocked for a moment, before shaking it off and returning to her work. She would be sure to finish the conversation with him later.

* * *

"Ginny wake up!" Hermione said loudly as she shook the red head, who was slowly waking up. She peeled on eye open and pulled the covers tighter around her.

"Mione it's Saturday." Ginny grumbled, still half asleep. She peeked open her eye again, noticing Hermione standing next to her bed with her arms crossed. She was fully dressed in a long sleeve shirt and jeans, her cloak lying out on her bed.

"I'm going to Hogsmede with Harry and Ron." Hermione said and Ginny shrugged under her blankets.

"I doubt they'll miss me." Ginny said, snuggling up to her pillow.

"Well, I'm giving you twenty minutes to get ready." A male voice said from the doorway, making both of Ginny's eyes pop open as Hermione began to giggle. She pushed herself up onto her elbows. "Make that thirty minutes." Draco said with a smirk and Ginny scrunched up her nose.

"You are such a git." Ginny enunciated as she tossed the covers off of her, noticing Hermione smiling.

"Well, I'll be off. I'm sure I'll see you there." Hermione said, before grabbing her clock and heading into the common room. Ginny stretched and looked over to see Draco standing in her doorway.

"Seriously though, you need to hurry. Blaise and I will be patiently waiting in the common room." He said, his smirk still plastered on his face, making Ginny rolls her eyes and get out of bed. She shut the door and began to get ready.

* * *

Ginny walked the streets of Hogsmede with Draco and his roommate Blaise Zabini. The latter never really would say too much, but he smirks a lot, making Ginny always wonder what he is thinking. Since he doesn't say much, Ginny doesn't really know very much about him. She does know that he is best friends with Draco, yet firmly inside of Pansy's circle. It was a riddle Ginny had yet to figure out, but she and Blaise weren't exactly friends.

"Let's go to Zonkos. My older brothers practically live there from what I hear about it." Ginny said, pointing the building across the street. Draco agreed, but Blaise said he would meet them at the Three Broomsticks, not interested in going to the joke shop.

Ginny walked around the store looking at all the products, but it had turned to be a lot less fun than she had anticipated. Fred and George were there, but they would be lucky to notice Ginny with the sea of people around them. Abigail was at Fred's side as always, Pansy and Daphne right beside her. Their friends surrounded them, but no matter where Ginny went, she felt like glaring eyes were on her.

Wanting to avoid any incident that would now include the twins, Ginny suggested to Draco that they just leave and head to the Three Broomsticks. He agreed and they exited the store, although Ginny was sure that Pansy would have seen them exit.

"I didn't know you know Pansy Parkinson." Ginny said, mostly on impulse, as the two of them walked down the street.

"I _knew_ her." He said shortly and Ginny nodded.

"I've never been a fan." Ginny admitted and he simply nodded. "Although she did come up and talk to me the other day. It was completely… well awkward. Would you like to know what she wanted to talk about?" She asked him, wondering if he would correctly assume that Pansy wanted to talk about him.

"I know what she wanted to talk about. What did she have to say?" He firmly asked her and she was shocked that he actually cared to know.

"She said she'd be friends with me if I stopped talking to you." She said with a small laugh and he looked at her curiously.

"What did you say?" He asked her and she looked at him, noting the curious look on his face. She smirked.

"Nervous I'm going to trade sides?" She asked him and he rolled his eyes. "Well I walked out of the joke shop with you, so I believe you are pretty safe to just assume I turned her away." She said and he nodded his head. "So I guess you two knew each other pretty well?" She asked him, curious to know why Pansy wanted to keep her away from Draco.

"We used to be friends, but that's old news." He admitted simply and Ginny pursed her lips, before she continued to push the subject.

"You can't just simply burn pages from your life." Ginny said to him, hoping to find out more. He nodded his head, a small smirk playing across his lips.

"No, but you can throw the whole book in the fire." Draco said to her, glancing to his side to look at her. She was looking at him with interest, only slightly paying attention to where she was walking. She probably didn't even notice that there were walking up the pub.

"Is that what you did?" She asked him and Draco abruptly stopped walking. He fully looked at her and didn't say anything for a while.

"I saved a few pages." He said before he started walking again, making Ginny notice that they were in front of the Three Broomsticks.

"Like Blaise?" She asked with a laugh, realizing that she would not get anything else out of him without angering him. She jogged a bit to catch up to him as he opened the door.

"Blaise is a good friend, don't let him tell you otherwise." Draco said with a smirk as Ginny slipped in before him.

* * *

Ginny sat in the common room late Sunday night, working on a Transfiguration paper she put off for the entire weekend. She was nearly done and very much tired when someone walked into the common room. Ginny was so consumed in quickly scratching down everything she could manage before her head became too heavy to hold up.

"Working hard?" Ron asked, making Ginny jump up, before letting out a sigh. "You are definitely the bookworm's roommate." Ron said in an awkward tone with an awkward smile on his face.

"Yeah. I put off the paper due to McGonagall tomorrow." She admitted to him, wondering why he was awake at this hour.

"So I guess I was a bit of a git in class on Friday." Ron admitted, which made Ginny suddenly feel more awake. She opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off. "I don't want to hear some speech about how he's not a bad guy, I still don't want you to be friends with him." He said firmly to her, making her stare at him for a moment.

"So you're still a git." She said with a roll of the eyes. She looked back down at her paper, no longer interested in him.

"Don't you understand? Fourteen years and we've fought, but never entirely disagreed." He said and Ginny looked up at him again. "We've dealt with parents, sibling rivalry to the degree of five older brothers and growing up in general." He said to her honestly and Ginny listened closely him. "In the past fourteen years we were always together on everything, but now you're growing away from me." He continued with but Ginny abruptly stopped him.

"Slow down a second. I'm growing away from you? We began growing apart when you replaced me when Harry became your best friend and I became just your sister. You just didn't notice it until it happened to you." She quickly said to him, making him take a step back because he had simply not thought of that. He pushed Ginny away to hang out with Harry, not wanting her to tag along.

"Draco Malfoy is-" He began but Ginny abruptly stood up.

"My friend and that is all that matters to me." She said as she quickly began to gather her things. He continued to try arguing with her, but she kept cutting him off and refused to listen to what he had to say. She would just have to try not to wake Hermione while she finished her paper.

* * *

"The Durmstrang champion: Viktor Krum!" Dumbledore shouted on Halloween night. The hall filled with cheers for the Quidditch star. "From Beauxbatons, Fleur Delacour." Dumbledore shouted as the next paper shot out of the fire. The hall cheered for the beautiful blonde who disappeared behind the door with Krum. "The Hogwarts Champion: Cedric Diggory!" The hall once again burst into cheers for the third and final champion.

Ginny half listened as Dumbledore spoke about the task. Her mind was currently off track and she was even surprised by her lack of interest. She was nearly catatonic during the whole Halloween feast and even on the walk back up to the common room. Her reactions were delayed if she wasn't completely unresponsive. As soon as she walked into her room, Hermione shut and locked the door.

"What is going on with you?" She asked, turning around to face Ginny, who was digging around for pajamas.

"Something is going on?" Ginny asked and Hermione crossed her arms, making Ginny sigh in a defeated manner. "It's been a long Monday and I've been doing a lot of thinking." She admitted and it fell silent. The two of them got ready for bed, before Ginny collapsed down on her bed. Hermione then started to question her about what has her so preoccupied.

"Some new development?" Hermione asked in an excited tone, but Ginny only shrugged.

"I've been thinking about whom I am and who I want to be." Ginny elaborated and Hermione nodded in an understanding way.

"Well, who are you?" Hermione asked and Ginny bit her lip.

"I don't really know." She admitted honestly and Hermione simply nodded.

"Okay, who do you want to be?" She asked expectantly, but Ginny merely shrugged.

"I don't exactly know that either." She admitted, making Hermione sigh, before laugh a bit.

"That must have taken a lot of thinking." Hermione said, making Ginny roll her eyes.

"Well how would you describe me then?" Ginny asked, making the brunette look at her, pondering what to say.

"Well, you are rather determined, although I can sense some self-consciousness. You can be shy and sometimes quiet, but you are most definitely very trustful." She said, Ginny nodding and taking it all in. "You're a good kid, don't go changing anything." Hermione said with a laugh, but Ginny shook her head.

"That's just it. I want to start over as someone else. Ron said we are growing apart and it made me realize that I have six older brothers to compete with if I want to be known as more than just the girl Weasley." Ginny proclaimed and Hermione nodded, admiring Ginny's determination.

"Everyone wants to make a name for themselves. You have nothing to worry about." Hermione said in a comforting way and Ginny simply smiled back at her friend.

"I know. I just need to decide what type of person I want to be." Ginny said, before pulling out her history book so she could finish some homework before bed.

_So break me down, if it makes you feel right  
And hate me now, if it keeps you all right  
You can't break me down, if it takes all __your__ might  
'Cause I am so much more than all your lies  
Hate me, break me down_

_-Seether_


	3. Who Cares About You

**Chapter Three- November**

"Are you going home for the weekend?" Ginny asked Hermione, who simply shook her head. There were select three day weekends during the school year when the school would transport students home for a couple days, before they would be required to return. It was an option plenty of students liked to take to just to get out of the school.

"My parents made plans before I heard what the dates were." Hermione said sullenly because it was nice to get out of the castle once in a while, even if it was to leave your friends and visit your parents. It was a popular option for a lot of students, unless they had other things planned for the three day weekend.

"You should come stay at my house. Ron always brought Harry with hardly any notice." Ginny justified in an excited manner, while Hermione just smiled politely. "My parents will love you. They will probably be willing to switch Ron and myself for you and Harry." Ginny said to convince her friend, who caved rather easily. A moment later both girls looked up when there was a knock on the frame of their open door.

"Are you almost packed?" Ron asked Ginny who rolled her eyes.

"How about we go to your room and see if you're ready to go." Ginny suggested and Ron shook his head.

"Mum mentioned a good five times in her letter than I make sure you are ready to come home for the weekend." Ron confessed and Ginny laughed goodheartedly.

"She mentioned that I remind you seven times." She said, which made Ron toss up his arms and apparently headed off to his room to go pack.

"So Ron is heading home for the weekend, too?" Hermione asked and Ginny nodded as she began to stuff clothes and her basic essentials into her school bag. There was absolutely no reason to cart around her trunk just for a weekend.

"Yeah and I'm sure Harry will be coming." Ginny said, looking straight ahead for a moment, before tossing her bag down on her bed.

"Isn't he going to see his parents?" Hermione asked and Ginny shrugged.

"Ron's gone to stay at the Potter's before and so have I. Harry has a sister in her third year." Ginny explained and Hermione nodded, listening as she started to pack her school bag with her some of her clothes and belongings. "Their parents are really cool, very down to earth and loving. Their dad, James, he is an absolute riot, especially when his friend Sirius is staying with them." Ginny said, a smile tugging at her lips, thinking back to last Christmas break. She explained that Sirius and James had been friend since they had been in Hogwarts and they had made him Harry's godfather.

"They sound like great people." Hermione said and Ginny nodded.

"My parents didn't know them in school though. My dad is ten years older than James, who is ten years older than my eldest brother Bill." Ginny explained and Hermione nodded her head with interest.

"What is your house like?" Hermione asked Ginny, who shrugged.

"I don't know, tall?" She said with a small laugh. "Always pretty busy and loud since there is seven of us kids."

* * *

"So what is it like having six brothers?" Draco asked Ginny Thursday night when they sat in the common room. Both of them were too wide awake to sleep and their roommates wanted to be well rested for the trip.

"Confusing. I can hardly remember their names." Ginny said with a laugh. "I don't know. I love them and their great. What is it like being an only child?" Ginny asked him back and he chuckled a bit.

"It's pretty boring and quiet. So let's hear about your brothers. Humor a child without any siblings." He said and she rolled her eyes, before trying to think of way to describe her brothers.

"Well Bill is the oldest. He works in Egypt as a curse breaker. I went there two summers ago. It's amazing there!" Ginny said with excitement and Draco nodded.

"Yeah, I've been there before. My family travels a lot." He said and she nodded, before he asked her to continue.

"Well Charlie works with dragons in Romania. Dragons are by far the most brilliant creature there is out there." Ginny explained, making Draco laugh and nod his head. "Percy is pretty boring. He works in the Ministry and although he gets along with Bill and Charlie, he doesn't exactly see eye to eye with the twins, Ron and me." Ginny explained and Draco nodded.

"My father knows the Minister very well and many people that work within the Ministry. I had seen Barty Crouch over the summer with your brother as some sort of an assistant."

"You knew it was my brother?" Ginny asked him curiously and he shrugged.

"I doubt Weasley is a very common last name." He said simply and Ginny nodded, realizing that she had a very big family that went back a very long time.

"So are you going home for the weekend?" Ginny asked when a long silence came over them. She really wasn't tired and didn't want to risk him growing tired and going to bed.

"Didn't even hesitate to think about it. I prefer to spend my time away from my parents if I can avoid them." He said simply and Ginny looked at him interested.

"Why wouldn't you want to see your parents." She asked him and he simply shrugged.

"I just meant I hate going back to our manor. There is three of us living in this huge place. Avoiding them isn't the problem, its being trapped in your house that is the problem." He explained to her and she looked at him for a moment before nodding.

"Okay. I guess I get that. I get so annoyed with my brothers and I wish I had a manor so I could escape from them." She admitted to him, before saying that she loves her brothers, but they can forget that she is a girl and wants to do her own thing away from them.

"Well at least they want to spend time with you." He attempted, but she laughed dryly.

"Hardly. They only seek out to me when I want to be alone. I hide away in my room and pretend that I can't hear everything they yell through the house." She explained, her tone relaxing and calm. "But then they come busting down the door and demand attention." She snapped and Draco looked at her bemused. "Well, not exactly demanding attention, but it is very annoying."

"You could be an only child. It's completely dull and everything is always your fault." He said with a simple laugh and Ginny nodded.

"I hate them sometimes, but I would never want to be rid of any of them, let alone be an only child." She admitted, saying she only really wanted her space from them. "I'm growing up, even if they don't want me to get older." She explained and Draco looked at her with interest.

"Why would they care? It's not like they stopped getting older." He said and Ginny laughed dryly.

"I'm the only girl with six older brothers. If any bloke comes along that is brave enough to date me, will leave my brothers complaining that he is replacing them in my life." She elaborated for him, before she continued. "Ron and I actually got into an argument because he said I am growing up and away from him. I mostly think it's because he's not a very big fan of you." She explained to Draco, looking over to him when she mentioned that Ron didn't like him.

"I'll try to not let that effect me." He said, waving it off, obviously not concerned in the least what Ron's opinion was of him. Draco then asked her another question, still on the topic of family. Ginny had come to notice that while talking to Draco, he always wanted to know more about her and casually avoided getting into details about himself.

* * *

Ginny tiredly stood waiting outside the Headmaster's office with several other students. They were forming a long line, that Ginny was thankfully not at the end of like she normally was in her old school. For the weekends that students had the opportunity to go home, they opened the floo network in the Headmaster's office to transport students home.

Flooing started at eight in the morning and Ginny, nor her brothers were very fast in the morning. Since Hermione would be going to their house, she was ready and holding their place in line when Ginny got there with her brothers and Harry. They were all quite thankful when they realized that they actually didn't have that long of a wait.

"So you're Ginny's roommate. I'm George, that's Fred." He said, pointing at his twin brother standing next to him.

"Don't trust him. He could actually be Fred." Ginny warned Hermione and the three of the red heads laughed.

"She's right, he's lying because I'm George." The real George said from behind Fred, Ron and Harry behind him, both half asleep as they stood there.

"I'm going to remember you, Fred." Hermione said looking directly at the twin that had tried to fool her.

"I'll just have to watch out for you then." He said and by that point it was there turn to go, McGonagall shuffling them up the staircase leading into Dumbledore's office. Hermione and Ginny walked into his office first, quickly followed by the other four. As soon as all six of them were in the office, McGonagall shut the door.

"Party of six?" Dumbledore asked, coming into view. "Well let's start with ladies first. Miss. Weasley and Miss. Granger, at the same time if you will." He said leading them over to the fire place. The girls stepped into the fireplace, Hermione grabbing Ginny's hand and Ginny grabbing the floo powder. They were gone within moments.

Hermione walked into the living room of the Burrow with Ginny. She immediately noticed how cluttered the house was, but it had an odd sort of welcoming feeling. Before she could look around anymore, Fred and George came flying out of the fireplace behind her. There was a crashing sound and a small squeak from Hermione as she went crashing down the ground with the twins.

Ginny quickly turned around and started laughing as soon as her eyes landed on the three of them. Mrs. Weasley came rushing into the room to make sure everyone was okay, but before she could do anything to help, there was another whooshing sound. Harry and Ron came flying out of the fireplace, colliding with the twins and Hermione, were had been trying to get back onto their feet.

"Oh dear." Molly said rushing over to the five of them, helping Hermione up and checking to make sure she was okay. She continued to fuss over Hermione's wellbeing for a few minutes, before Ginny said she wanted to show Hermione the rest of the house. "Be quick. I'm just finishing up breakfast." She said, but she didn't need to say anymore as all four boys rushed into the kitchen.

"It's like you've never flooed before." Ginny said with a giggle as she led Hermione out of the living room. In shock from everything that just happened, Hermione gave a light laugh, following Ginny out of the room.

Ginny first showed Hermione outside, telling her to watch out for gnomes in the garden. She led her through the kitchen, where the boys were shoveling food into their mouths, which made Ginny walk faster, wanting to get the tour done.

"I used to sleep on the first floor, but mum and dad finally took over that room." Ginny said, gesturing to the closed door they passed on the way up the stairs. "The twins and Percy are on the second floor." She said pointing to the two rooms as they passed them. "Bill and Charlie's rooms are on the third floor. They don't live at home anymore though."

"You're house is really tall." Hermione said and Ginny laughed, saying it was a good thing they could do magic. She showed off her room on the fourth floor, before saying Ron had the best room. She led her up one more flight of stairs to the fifth floor.

"The hallway to his room is a balcony. He gets to be up here all by himself and I've been waiting for him to get sick of the ghoul and want to switch rooms." Ginny explained, before dragging Hermione back downstairs.

"Well your house is amazing." Hermione said as they bounded back down the stairs to eat breakfast.

"Just wait until you eat my mom's food. You'll want to move in." Ginny said with a laugh. "But then you will spend too much time with my brothers and you will want out." She said as they walked down the steps and reentered the kitchen.

* * *

That night they all sat in the living room in front of a fire. Molly and Arthur were interested to hear how school was going so far. Molly began to rave about how well-behaved Ginny was for a teenage girl and loves how her roommate is so studious and polite. Fred and George seemed to have sensed that she was in a good mood, because that was the only way she would have let the topic come up.

"So who is Tom Riddle?" Fred asked as soon as there was a moment of silence. Molly and Arthur looked at each other, while the twins stared at them and the other four looked at the twins, shocked they dared to ask such a thing. Although, Ginny got the felling Hermione was more confused. The red head could see Hermione glancing around at the others reactions before she would react. It would happen so quickly that Ginny thought that she was reading too much into it.

"Professor Binns won't cover history unless it happened before the 1900's." George threw in when no one said anything.

"He was such a horrible man. I don't think it would be the best bedtime story." Molly said in her maternal voice, but Arthur seemed more lenient on the matter after finding that they wouldn't learn about it in school.

"They are getting older. Besides, Fred and George are interested in history." Arthur said, to which all of the teenagers nodded and Molly caved almost instantaneously. She nodded her head to her husband and he began the history lesson, all of the teens listening much better than they do with Binns. "You-know-who was a dark wizard that brought war upon our kind because he felt that magic should be kept in families with blood purity." He explained, but they all looked at him confused.

"You mean Tom, right?" Ron asked and there was a long moment of struggled silence before Arthur continued.

"Voldemort. It's what he was going by and many wizards to this day fear speaking his name." He explained, while Ginny and Hermione listened intently, the guys looked skeptical.

"One bloke scared the entire wizarding world?" Fred said.

"Why didn't we just _Avada_ him and be done with it?" George asked as soon as his brother finished speaking.

"Well he had followers. They were called deatheaters." He explained, but then Molly finally jumped in, realizing the boys wouldn't stop asking questions if Arthur stopped to let them ask.

"Close your eyes and imagine it like this. You have absolutely no idea who his supporters could be. You don't know who's working for him and who isn't working for him. You do know he has the ability to control people so that they do terrible things without any conscious thought about what they are doing." She explained, pausing for a breath, but then continued plowing through. "You're scared for yourself, for your family and your friends. Soon the daily news comes to announce more and more deaths, more disappearances, more torturing. All the while, your praying you don't see a name you recognize." She stopped again, but no one spoke, hanging on to each of her words. When Arthur took over at this point, the only sound was the shifts of bodies as they turned to look at him in unison.

"The Ministry of Magic's in a complete disarray because they don't know what to do and they're trying to keep everything hidden from the Muggles. Meanwhile, they are dying too, from countless, unexplained deaths. Terror around every corner. Panic and confusion." He elaborated for them. "Well that's how it used to be just before you all were born." He explained to them, but then Molly cut in.

"Not all. Fred and George were one or two when his downfall came." She explained, then Hermione spoke up.

"What happened to him?" She piped in, which is what all of them were wondering.

"Well Dumbledore wasn't going to just sit by and let it happen. He was gathering his own members for the Order of the Phoenix, to fight back and it was a rough start but a great success. Dumbledore defeated him, although he always expresses some bothersome fear that he will never truly be gone." Molly explained to them while they all looked at her in shock.

"Professor Dumbledore?" George blurted out.

"Our headmaster defeated Voldemort!" Fred shouted out, making Arthur laugh a bit.

"Alright, that's enough." Molly said, settling them all down as they started to get talkative. "We'll be getting letters from the school if we say too much more. _Your children are traumatizing other students_!" She mocked, before telling them it was getting late and they should all get some well needed sleep.

* * *

The next day the boys decided they wanted to play Quidditch. They didn't want to play just two on two, which meant Ginny spent most of the morning trying to convince Hermione to play with them. After all, her brothers never would let her play with them and she wasn't about to pass up the first offer. Hermione, however, hated flying altogether.

"I will be completely useless." Hermione complained as Ginny made her get dressed to play it anyway.

"Well, my brother's don't think I'm a special talent or anything. They just want more bodies." Ginny said with a smile, forcing Hermione out of her bedroom and down into the kitchen where the guys were, standing with Ginny's second eldest brother.

"Charlie!" Ginny shrieked excitedly, rushing over to give him a hug. He hugged her tightly, spinning her around. "What are you doing here?" She asked him, not that she wasn't happy, just surprised since he works in Romania.

"Business. Hogwarts business as a matter of fact." He taunted them, before telling them they would all find out soon enough.

"You should play a game with us." Ginny said smiling at him, his arm still wrapped around her shoulder, while Ron scoffed.

"Ginny, he's obviously too busy to play a game with us." Ron said, saying Ginny was being childish, while Charlie simply shrugged.

"I'm free all weekend. We weren't supposed to come out until Monday, but I got an early leave." He said with a huge grin, while Fred and George quickly glanced at one another.

"Well if Charlie can take time off work to play a fun game of Quidditch." Fred began.

"Then Percy should have _plenty_ of time to come outside with us." George finished, before they both stood up.

"We'll be right back." They said in unison, before slipping out of the kitchen. When they finally returned, everyone was already heading out to the open area where they could play Quidditch, as long as they didn't fly too high. Each of the twins had an arm looped with one of Percy's arms, practically dragging him out of his room and then outside.

"Charlie lives in Romania and he still makes time for us." Fred stated.

"And here you are locking yourself up in your room."

"Forcing us to use mom to get you to open the door."

"It's really Ickle Ronniekins and Gin-gin were worried about." George said before Percy cut in.

"Do you two ever stop?" He said in an exasperated tone, while the twins simply grinned.

"Nope." They said together, before Percy finally began walking on his own will.

* * *

By that night, Ginny and Hermione had enough of spending time with the boys, locking themselves in Ginny's room. Hermione had to admit that Ginny was right. They were fun to hang out with, but you had your fill of them quite fast. Now that they wanted their girl time, Hermione noted that she could hear the boys all around the house. Both girls did the best they could to ignore them.

A thunderstorm had made its way through a few hours before dinner, which forced all of them to retreat back into the house. Percy returned to his room, while Charlie went to talk to Arthur out in the garage. The others sat around bored, before playing a 'more intense than it really needed to be' game of hide and seek. Molly had to fix several broken things all around the house, although her anger was very well in check. Presumably she was far too amused by the six teenagers running around her house like five year olds.

After dinner, Hermione and Ginny retreated to the latter's bedroom to just hang out, which is no different than being at school. Although, in Ginny's room they can listen to the radio, while electronics don't work at Hogwarts. The radio definitely helped to block out the boys, who seemed to be trying to make as much noise as possible.

"They can get so annoying." Ginny complained for what seemed like the hundredth time. Having six older brothers could unquestionably drive a fourteen year old girl bonkers. She was currently laying on her bed, focusing almost completely on the music so she couldn't hear them. She hated to admit it, but she was beginning to understand how Percy felt when he just wants to be left alone. Although, he wants to be left alone _all_ the time.

"Not all of them are so bad." Hermione said while absentmindedly writing in a small notebook. Ginny quickly sat up from where she was laying on her bed and looked at Hermione intensely. Hermione honestly loved how all of the Weasley's were completely themselves no matter who was around them. She doubted very much that she could go to any other student's house and play childish games. They were all so quickly comfortable with each other that they were able to just let go and have fun.

"No." She said and Hermione looked at her confused, pulling her from her thoughts. "Which one of my brothers do you like?" Ginny asked in a low voice and Hermione cheeks gave her away, way before she even tried to say anything. She attempted to deny anything, while Ginny just stared at her blankly until she finally caved.

"I'm not delusional or anything because I know it'll never happen." She began to explain, but Ginny quickly jumped in.

"Is it Charlie?" Ginny asked in a shocked voice. Not shocked that someone would like him, but he was a good ten years her senior.

"Fred." Hermione said in a barely audible voice, making Ginny practically jump up as she pulled her feet back onto her bed so that she was now sitting on them.

"Seriously!" Ginny practically yelled, making Hermione flush a darker color. "I was preparing myself for Ron." Ginny admitted, not sure if she was more or less upset that it wasn't Ron.

"Why Ron?" Hermione asked, trying to get the subject off of Fred, but Ginny refused to let that happen.

"More than one reason. You actually know who Ron is and in fact met him more than forty hours ago. Fred is the only one of my brothers dating anyone." Ginny explained to begin with, although Percy could still be dating Penelope, he just never talked about the break up or if they were still together. "He is like the exact opposite of you. Fred and George are jokesters." She said before another thought dawned on her. "Why not George? I mean, can you even tell them apart?" Ginny asked quickly and Hermione nodded as if it was no big deal.

"It's in the eyes or the facial expressions they make. There is just the tiniest of a fraction difference." Hermione explained, while Ginny just stared at her. "I notice these things." She admitted and Ginny nodded slowly. "I don't know why I'm interested in Fred over any of your brothers, who are all pretty opposite of me." Hermione explained, while Ginny simply shrugged.

"Well as long as you're not some mental stalker." Ginny said and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"How about you admit who you like now." Hermione said, not asking and Ginny looked at her interested. Could it be possible that she surpassed being known as the girl with the huge crush on Harry? She, herself, hadn't even thought about him as more than her brother's friend in quite some time. Sure she still liked him, but she wasn't going to continue pining for him. She was sure that the new friends outside of Harry and Ron helped quite a bit.

"Guess people have forgotten, but I've always kind of had a big thing for Harry. He's got a bit of a thing for Cho." Ginny said and Hermione looked impressed.

"I never would have guessed. I honestly kind of assumed Draco." Hermione admitted and Ginny choked back a laugh.

"That is just friends territory." Ginny explained in a simple manner. "Besides, we're only fourteen and have plenty of years ahead of us." Ginny reasoned with and Hermione nodded.

"Well since we can't have who we like, we will just have to lower our standards to… every other bloke we go to school with." Hermione said, the last part with a small laugh.

"You'd be cute with Seamus." Ginny said with a smile and Hermione laughed a bit.

"Yeah and you would look good with Dean." Hermione countered with and Ginny narrowed her eyes slightly.

"That's because we're both taller, isn't it?" Ginny asked and Hermione nodded her head.

"Like you didn't chose Seamus because I'm the same height as him." Hermione pointed out and Ginny had to admit that it was true.

The night continued on with the same general conversation for quite some time. How Hermione and Ginny both thought that Neville was cute in an awkward kind of way, how Cedric was gorgeous and how famous seeker Victor Krum was attractive in a rouged way. They agreed that it is attractive how Blaise rarely spoke, but he would smile a lot. He really had an incredible smile.

They went on for a while, before they drifted off to another topic, before they ended up falling asleep.

* * *

"Hermione Granger, right?" Pansy Parkinson said when they left Defense at the end of the day. Hermione had been heading back to the common room with Ginny, who was walking with Draco and Blaise. Hermione stopped walking when Pansy said her name, as did the other three. "Can we talk for a second." She said, her tone suggesting that it wasn't a question.

Ginny immediately began laughing, while Draco and Blaise exchanged looks. "Go if you want." Ginny remarked, before saying she would see Hermione later and began walking again. Draco and Blaise followed her, waiting until they were a good distance away before they said anything.

"Don't you think that Pansy might be trying to turn Hermione against you?" Draco asked Ginny when there weren't as many people around them.

"Like she tried to turn you against Draco." Blaise pointed out and Ginny stopped in front of the door that led to the dorms.

"As you remember I turned her away." She pointed out to them and they nodded at the obvious fact. "Well I appreciate that you think I'm a better person than Hermione, but I'm sure she won't turn against me." Ginny said as she opened the door and led them into the dormitory corridor.

There were twenty four doors in the corridor. Twenty one of them led to common rooms and inside of those had six to eight bedrooms. The last three doors led to McGonagall, Snape and Slughorn's sleeping quarters, respectively of course.

"Besides, if she even did decide to become friends with Pansy, she wouldn't betray me." Ginny said, while the guys exchanged looks once again.

* * *

Pansy led Hermione out into the courtyard and took a seat underneath a tree. She told Hermione to have a seat and she didn't say another word until Hermione was sitting on the ground.

"So you're the one who has been deemed a bookworm." Pansy said, still looking at Hermione as she had yet to break eye contact. "You are just so cute and not to mention really sweet, too." Pansy complimented and Hermione was quite taken aback.

"Uh, thanks." She said, unsure of how she should respond.

"I've been so busy in that little feud with your roommate, I haven't really been trying to actually make friends." Pansy explained and Hermione nodded her head slowly. "Well Daphne and I are trying to get to know some of our housemates, decide who we like and whatnot." She continued to explain, but before Hermione could say anything, she continued. "Next Saturday, we'll all spend the day together in Hogsmede." She said with a smile and Hermione stared at her for a moment.

"I'm not sure, I mean Ginny is my best friend." Hermione defended, but Pansy simply waved her hand at the matter.

"I may have tried to befriend Ginny to get her away from Draco, but I'm not befriending you to end your friendship with her." Pansy said with a knowing smile. "Just make the decision for yourself and don't let her stand in your way. I'm not planning to let her stop us from being friends, so she shouldn't try to stop you either." Pansy concluded and Hermione nodded her head, once again slowly.

"I guess I talk to her about it." Hermione suggested and Pansy kind of nodded.

"Don't let anyone ever make you feel like you don't deserve what you want." She responded in a reassuring way.

"Okay, so I guess I'll be in Hogsmede on Saturday." Hermione said, although still unsure.

"Great. We can all meet at the three broomsticks at noon." She said and Hermione nodded, before asking if that was all. When Pansy had said she was free to go, Hermione stood and awkwardly, but quickly, walked away.

* * *

Ginny sat down in on the couch in the common room, Draco and Blaise both in an uneasy silence. They sat down on the couch across from her and exchanged looks for a third time. Ginny rested her head in her hand and propped her arm up on the arm of the couch.

"Well say what do you want to say." She said, getting annoyed with the looks on their faces.

"Well, it just that popularity can really change girls. It can cause a great many of them to lie, cheat and steal. They lie to be accepted, cheat their friends by using them, and steal people's secrets to resell at a higher social price." Draco explained to her and Blaise half shrugged and then nodded.

"That is what happened when Pansy rose in popularity and Draco banished everyone from his life." Blaise said in a dramatic way, making Draco punch him in the shoulder and told him to go back to being quiet, while Blaise rolled his eyes.

"The point is I know Pansy and even Blaise cannot deny that she plays games. Everything is one big game to her. This little girl battle between the two of you is just a game to her and she will do anything to win. She has no shame." Draco explained and Blaise laughed.

"Extreme, but he is right, I cannot deny that." Blaise admitted with a chuckle as the door leading to their common room opened. Hermione walked into the room, her school bag still hanging on her shoulder and she met Ginny's eyes and then went up to the room.

"Well boys, I believe I was just called away." Ginny said as she got up from the couch and grabbed her bag from the floor to head up the dorm she shared with Hermione.

"Just stop playing games with her. Pansy will grow bored if you don't bite every time she baits you." Draco informed and she nodded her head with an eye roll, not taking him the least bit seriously and he could tell. She said she would consider it before heading to her room and shutting the door behind her.

Hermione was on her bed, putting her Herbology and Charms books in her bag and replacing her Defense book on the shelf on her side of the room, where she put all of her books. She had rather lot of books, which only encouraged her bookworm status at school, but Ginny never minded because she herself liked to read. Just not as much as Hermione, who hadn't shown much interest in anything else, until right now.

"Pansy invited me to lunch with her and other girls from our year." Hermione confessed to Ginny after a long period of silence, when she had nothing else to distract her.

"I'm guessing I didn't make the guest list." Ginny said with a laugh, collapsing down on her bed with one of Hermione's books that she had been reading.

"I've decided to go." Hermione said, her voice showing some confidence behind it and that's when Ginny realized that Hermione thought of Ginny as the one in control in their relationship. It wasn't like Ginny could forbid her to see Pansy without Hermione agreeing to it as well.

"I guessed that as well. Come on, did you think I would tell you not to go?" Ginny asked her when she seen the look on Hermione's face was shock at her lack of interest in Pansy trying to be friends with her.

"I think I kind of hoped you would so I could just not go." Hermione said and Ginny laughed a little before letting out a small sigh. She had two choices as of this moment. She could tell Hermione that she really didn't want her to go and risk ending up friends with Pansy as well, which Ginny couldn't lie, it did make her nervous. On the other hand, she could be a good friend and trust Hermione, who has given Ginny plenty of reasons trust her since school began.

"You should go." Ginny said impulsively to Hermione. "I screwed up my chances of being in that crowd, doesn't mean you can't slip your way in there." She said with a smile and Hermione nodded her head slowly, feeling more confident with the idea of going.

"You know, Pansy could never end our friendship." Hermione defended and Ginny nodded with a knowing smile.

"I never doubted that, Hermione." She said, which made Hermione's face light up. "You're my best friend in a school where plenty of students dislike me just three months in. I never placed any doubt in our friendship." Ginny said, which made Hermione finally relax and lay down on her bed, her own book in hand.

Ginny had her book out, but she was hardly reading it. She was staring straight passed it, knowing she could trust Hermione. However, Draco and Blaise made it very clear when they said that Pansy plays games and she plays them to the death. It wouldn't really be fair if she let Hermione go without saying anything to her.

"Hermione?" Ginny called to her roommate, who turned her head to the side to look at Ginny. "Just be careful. Draco says Pansy likes to play games with people." She explained and Hermione nodded.

"She seems like the type. I'd like to think that I am pretty smart though." Hermione said with a smile and Ginny nodded her head, saying that she agreed completely.

"Draco was telling me that I should just stand down and ignore her, which would make her grow bored with me." Ginny said with a laugh, her tone saying that it was very unlikely to happen.

"I agree completely." Hermione said sitting up on her bed. "She will move on from trying to torment you if you just pretend you don't even notice."

* * *

Saturday came and Hermione walked to Hogsmede with Ginny who was accompanied by Draco since Hermione had plans to meet up Pansy and the other girls at noon. Despite the fact that Hermione didn't greatly approve of Ginny's friendship with Draco and he wasn't a huge fan of Hermione, they got along when they were both around Ginny.

The thought crossed Ginny's mind as they walked the trail towards the small town with several other students heading in the same direction. A small smile played across her lips when the thought did cross her mind. Although she might not be as popular as she had hoped she would be, she had two really great best friends, who would put aside their differences and tolerate each other.

"You look nervous." Draco pointed out to Hermione, who turned her head sharply to look at him, before looking forward again. She sighed and nodded her head.

"It's so stupid of me to be nervous. I just can't help but think that she won't like me and then she will seek me out for torment." She explained, more to Ginny than Draco, although he was the one who pointed it out. "Maybe I'll just hang out with you two instead." She said, which wouldn't be the first time. Hermione had been changing her mind since Monday about going and not going.

"You are going even if I have to sit you down in the seat myself." Ginny said, a small hint of annoyance in her voice. She was growing tired of Hermione changing her mind, when Ginny really just wanted to tell her not to go then. Draco seemed to be shocked by Ginny encouraging her friend so adamantly to hang out with Pansy. He looked at her, before shrugging and throwing himself in the conversation.

"She'll like you." He said, making both girls look at him. "As Ginny's best friend, you should be considered her enemy as well. If she still wants to be your friend enough to invite you out, then she has already decided she likes you." He explained, which made Ginny's smile reappear, wondering how hard that must have been for him to say.

"Come on, he is saying this and you two don't even really like each other." Ginny threw in and the two of them exchanged looks, before tilting their heads to the side and then nodding in agreement.

"I can't deny that I have an unexplainable dislike for Granger and the feeling is mutual, I'm sure." He said and Hermione nodded her head once again. "She's attractive enough and too sweet for her own good." He said and Ginny looked impressed.

"Do I really come off that sweet?" Hermione asked, which made Ginny laugh and Draco nod his head.

"You wouldn't hurt a pixie." Ginny said, before telling Hermione to getting into the Three Broomsticks before she was late. Hermione nodded, saying she would see them later, before crossing the crowded street and entering the pub. Ginny and Draco exchanged looks, before heading to Zonkos joke shop. After all, Pansy was at the Three Broomsticks so she wouldn't be practically chasing them out.

Of course, Fred and George managed to slip away from their friends to step in front of their sister as she was walking around and looking at the products. They both smirked at her and each of them leaned on a shelf.

"Well hello there sis, enjoying your local joke shop?" Fred said, pointing to some of the newer products.

"Or perhaps on a date." George said and then both their eyes landed on Draco.

"No." Ginny said quickly before either of them could say anything else. "I'm not surprised to find that you two practically live in here." She said to change the subject, commenting on how they are always in here during Hogsmede visits.

"As if you would expect to find us anywhere else." They both said in a offended tone, making Ginny roll her eyes.

"Would either of you be interested in betting in this Thursday's tournament." Fred asked and like usual, George jumped in.

"It's supposed to be a bloodbath." George said in an enticing manner.

"How does anyone know, when no one is supposed to know about it?" Ginny asked them confused, making them give her a look as if they were appreciating her innocence.

"So young."

"So naïve."

"Charlie will be showing you and Ronniekins tonight."

"Since school gossip has yet to reach you simple fourth years."

"Will you be betting then?" George asked, looking at Draco, who was surprised by suddenly being pulled into the conversation.

"I'll wait until she tells me what the task will be." He said, which made the twins nod.

"Smart man." George said nodding to his brother.

"Common sense more like it." Fred threw back.

"Who are you?" They asked at the same time in a more serious manner.

"Draco Malfoy." He said, which made the twins nod slowly, as if it triggered something in their minds, but they weren't sure what it was exactly.

"Well enjoy the shop." Fred said as they made their way to leave.

"Don't be a stranger." George said to Ginny as they walked away. Ginny rolled her eyes and sighed, but smiled as they walked away. The store grew more crowded, making Ginny and Draco quickly find the exit.

"Are they always like that?" Draco asked once they were walking down the street once again.

Ginny looked thoughtful for a moment. "Without a doubt." She said after a moment and Draco nodded. "It's getting cloudy and really cold." Ginny commented and Draco nodded.

"It looks like snow. You want to head back to the school?" He asked and she nodded as a cold wind began to blow through the village.

"I wonder if snow will affect the task?" Ginny commented, which made Draco shrug a bit.

"Well you will find out tonight and then you can tell me." He said with a smirk and Ginny nodded her head as she noticed Ron was making his way over to her, followed by Harry.

"I got a letter from Charlie. He wants us to meet him outside Hagrid's at six." Ron said to her and she nodded her head saying she would be ready by then. She reminded him to dress warm and he looked at her scornfully for a moment, before turning to face Draco.

"Malfoy." He said simply.

"Ronniekins." Draco said back with a smirk, making Ron quickly look at Ginny, who was suppressing a laughing with her hands up.

"Blame the twins." She said quickly, before the two of them walked away without any other word.

"I've never been so happy that I don't have siblings." Draco commented with a laugh and Ginny nodded, thankful that the twins had only ever been interested in embarrassing Percy and Ron. "No wonder you can sit in silence for so long. I would be dying for some quiet after living with them for fourteen years." He said, but Ginny was skeptical. Sure she could stand silence, but because of always having someone to talk to in her house, she found that she always wanted something to talk about with her friends.

"Tell me something about your childhood." Ginny said to him, since they never really spoke about his childhood as an only child. She just assumed that there were more stories from her because she had six siblings.

"What's there to tell?" He asked her and she shrugged.

"I don't know. All I know is that you have two parents, whom I assume are still married by the way you speak about them and that you have been friends with Pansy and Blaise for years, although the first did something so you can't stand her." Ginny said quickly, not realizing that she hadn't taken a breath the whole time. "Tell me about how you met Pansy and Blaise then." She said when he didn't say anything right away.

"My mother was best friends with Pansy's mother, Daphne's mother and Blaise's mother when she went to school. We have known each other our entire lives." He explained to her and Ginny could sense that he didn't want to talk about his youth, but she was sick of him blowing it off.

"Ookay, well then they are like family to you." She reasoned and he shrugged.

"I used to consider them that. Although Blaise has yet to fall from grace." Draco said with a small shake of his head.

"I know you won't tell me why you can't stand Pansy, but did she start changing before then?" Ginny asked him and stiffened slightly.

"I don't know what kind of story you are building in your mind." He said to her as they continued to walk back to the school. Thankfully not a lot of students were heading back this early. "Sure we had money and we traveled with our families all around the world. If you look closely, you can see the fun we had because we were all so close." He explained and Ginny scoffed.

"What is so horrible about that?" She asked him and he rolled his shoulders back.

"Everything isn't as simple as you picture it to be." He said, his tone very snappy and then he sighed. "She really changed when he mom died when we were twelve, the summer before our second year." He explained to her slowly, finally just answering her question. By this point, Ginny had simply given up on finding out anything else. Draco seemed to relax when silence over took them, the conversation clearly over.

* * *

Draco and Blaise waited outside the stadium for Ginny to show up. They agreed to meet there since Ginny was saying goodbye to Charlie, who would be leaving after the match to help transport the three dragons back to Romania. They slowly began to grow impatient when Pansy and Daphne showed up outside the stadium with a group of girls, although Draco and Blaise did recognize Cho Chang from the common room.

"What time did she say to meet her here?" Pansy asked impatiently before her eyes landed on Draco and Blaise. "Blaise are you going to come sit with us?" Pansy asked him in a sweet and enticing voice. Draco glanced at Blaise to see what his reaction would be to her invitation.

"Maybe next time, I'm with Draco and Ginny Weasley today." He said with an apologetic look towards her, making her expression quickly turn to scornful. Cho pointed out Hermione walking up the stadium with Ginny, Harry and Ron. Pansy called Hermione over to them, before she began to led them back into the stadium. Hermione sent an apologetic look to the others, before heading off after the girls, Cho lagging behind so Hermione wouldn't get left behind.

"You're going to lose points for that one." Draco said to Blaise as Ginny separated from Harry and Ron.

"I'll survive." He said with a smirk as she walked up to them and said they better get moving if they want a good seat. "Where are these twin brothers of yours? I'm interested betting on this match." Blaise said to Ginny with a smirk as they entered the stadium.

_It's so hard to find someone who  
Cares about you  
But it's easy enough to find someone who  
Looks down on you  
Why is it so hard to find someone  
Who cares about you?  
When it's easy enough to find someone  
Who looks down on you_

-Three Days Grace


	4. Teenagers

A/n: I appreciate the few reviews I got for the last chapter. I was asked when I plan to have Draco and Ginny fluff, but I don't see that happening until the second half of their fifth year. Although, now I do feel compelled to at least have them kiss during their forth year. Well, I'll just see how it plays out because their forth year is just mostly to get to know each of them and I try my best to keep them in character. Although, their character is bound to change a bit when I change everything else around them...

Let me know what you think because I still have a long way to go...

* * *

**Chapter Four-**** December**

******You can tell a child is growing up when he stops asking where he came from and starts refusing to tell where he is going.**

December turned out to be a very stressful month and it was only half over. Krum had won the match against the dragons, although there was much debate on Karkaroff's perfect score for him, despite him smashing half of the real dragon eggs. Charlie had wrote Ginny and her brothers after he successfully transported the dragons back. He told them to make sure to root on Cedric to beat Krum as payback for destroying the eggs.

Pansy had indeed liked Hermione and began demanding that she spend more time with them. Ginny wasn't bothered by this too much because she could spent time with Draco. Hermione had yet to change or show any sign of changing and Pansy didn't hold Hermione accountable for her fights with Ginny.

To everyone's surprise, things began to get even worse between Ginny and Pansy. If the two of them had to spend too much time in the same vicinity as one another and things were bound to blow up. The classes that they shared had the tendency to get really bad. Slughorn tried to ignore it and tried to avoid taking points because he had become quite fond of Ginny. Flitwick would encourage them to pay attention and Snape would deduct points with no remorse.

Midterms were taking place this week, but after they got out of muggle studies on Friday, they would be on Christmas break. Ginny couldn't be more thankful for break. The yule ball would be taking place on Christmas eve, which was a week from Saturday. Students who would like to go home, but attend the ball as well, would take the train back home and then floo back on the twentieth.

Ginny had just recently decided that she would be going home for a few days and then coming back for the ball. She had planned on staying home all break, not truly expecting anyone to ask her. She had decided that the ball was a waste of time anyway and it simply was just not her type of thing. However, that was until Neville just asked her to the Yule Ball.

Perhaps he felt he did a good job on the written Transfiguration midterm, but he came up to her after class on the way to lunch. As it turns out, she was the second girl he asked, Hermione being the first. Out of every girl in the school, Hermione and Ginny had been the only ones to pay attention to him at all. Ginny had smiled and said she would love to be his date as long as they stay just friends. He agreed completely and was thrilled that she had said she would go.

Then, Ginny realized that Hermione had turned Neville down. Did Hermione really think she was better than Neville? That just didn't seem like a Hermione thing to do, even if she is friends with Pansy Parkinson. When Neville said it was because someone already asked her, she became even more curious. Who had asked Hermione to the ball?

Ginny simply couldn't wait for the answer, rushing down the Great Hall. When Neville asked to speak to her, Hermione had continued down to lunch with Harry and Ron. Ginny had wondered why she didn't walk with the Patil twins, who Pansy approved of, but now she wondered if one of them had possibly asked her.

The red head managed to catch up to the three of them just before they entered the hall. She asked to speak alone to Hermione and after two confused glances from the boys, they entered the hall. Ginny pulled Hermione away from the traffic of students rushing to the Great Hall for lunch after taking two written exams.

"Who are you going to the ball with?" Ginny asked, her mind pairing Hermione with people she knew, wondering if it was ever even possible for her to end up going with them.

"You can't tell anyone." Hermione said quickly, making Ginny's mind wipe completely blank as she just stared at her bushy haired friend. "I'm serious, I haven't told anyone else and I'm only tell you." She said quite firmly and Ginny looked at her interested.

"Who are you going with?" Ginny stressed even more, now dying to know.

"Viktor Krum asked me." She said in a quiet voice so passing students couldn't hear her, although the hall was rather loud.

"No way!" Ginny shouted, before lowering voice as a few fifth years looked over to them. "Did Pansy set it up or something?" She asked in a quiet voice and Hermione just stared at Ginny for a moment.

"I just told you that you are the only one who knows." She said, flicking Ginny in the forehead. "He's been coming into the library for weeks, always with a pack of gaggling girls behind him. It had been so annoying!" Hermione complained, leaving it to be Ginny's turn to stare at her blankly.

"A international Quidditch star asks you to your school's ball and _you _find a way to fit annoying in there." Ginny said and Hermione smiled, both of them muttering in low, yet excited, voices as they walked into the hall.

* * *

On Tuesday morning, while walking back to the castle from Herbology, Michael caught up with Ginny. The snow was already almost halfway to their knees, but the snow storm had finally stopped. They had taken their practical Herbology exam because there was another snowstorm expected by Thursday. They would be able to take the written exam inside, however the practical needed to be done in the greenhouse.

After some casual catching up conversation Michael slipped in, "Would you like to go to the ball with me?" As soon as they walked into the castle and out of the blowing wind. Ginny glanced over at him, noticing that he was looking at her hopefully. She frowned.

"I'm sorry. I already said I'd go with someone." She said, although she would have rather gone with Michael over Neville, he was still her friend and she couldn't do that to him.

"Okay, well that's awkward." He said with a laugh. "Out of curiosity, would you have said yes if you didn't already have a date?" He asked her and she smiled.

"Yeah, I supposed I would have. Too bad you didn't ask me before lunch yesterday." She said with a small laugh and he let out a groan.

"I spent the last two and a half days trying to get the spunk to ask you. Well, save me a dance at least." He said before heading off to his next class as Ginny headed towards the Charms classroom. Before she managed to walk into the classroom, Draco and Blaise appeared at either side of her.

"Do my eyes deceive me, or did Corner just ask you to the Yule Ball." Blaise said, nudging Ginny in the side, hoping to embarrass her.

"Yeah, but I turned him down." Ginny told them honestly as they walked over to their usual seats.

"Told you she has better taste." Draco said with a smirk and she rolled her eyes.

"I said no because I was already asked by someone." She said confidently, while they both looked at her interested.

"Who asked you?" They both asked, but she held a finger to her lips to silence them as Flitwick began to send around their written exams.

* * *

"Michael Corner asked me to the ball." Ginny said when she sat down next to Hermione during dinner that evening. She had sat with Draco and Blaise during lunch so Hermione could sit with Pansy and her friends. She could share, even if she despised the girl she was sharing with.

"You told him you already had a date, right?" Hermione asked and Ginny looked at her shocked.

"Of course, I wouldn't do that to Neville." Ginny said, surprised that Hermione could think such a thing.

"What if Harry asked you?" Hermione asked her in response and Ginny hesitated for a moment.

"I still wouldn't ditch Neville." She confessed, although she wasn't too sure about that. She only assumed as much because Harry was so preoccupied with Cho, he didn't pay her any attention most of the time. They ate in silence for a while, before Hermione began talking about how her parents were going skiing, but she couldn't go now because of the ball.

"They understand that the Yule Ball doesn't happen every year." Hermione explained when Ginny asked if they were upset that she wouldn't be coming back home for break.

"Well you can come to my house for the few days Ron and I are going home." Ginny said but Hermione didn't say anything. "I mean, it's not like going skiing or whatever, but we always manage to have fun." Ginny said, surprised that Hermione wasn't excited to get out of the castle. Last time that Ginny invited her, she had be delighted by the idea. Perhaps she didn't like the Burrow?

"Pansy's birthday party is this Saturday." Hermione said and Ginny's mouth made an 'o' shape. Ginny then waved it off, saying that she wasn't even sure if the twins were going home and they are all the fun anyway. They fell into silence again and Ginny ate her meal with a little more bitterness then she had been a few minutes ago.

* * *

"Fifteen points from fourth year for each of you!" McGonagall said as Ginny and Pansy lowered their wands, the crowd around them quickly clearing away when they heard the professor's sharp voice. She had the timing to walk up as soon as they both pulled out their wands, before either of them could shoot off a spell.

She walked over to them, her lips as tight as her bun. "Dueling in the corridors. I can't imagine what you two are thinking." She said to them firmly, but then she relaxed. "I would hate to give out detentions when I can assume that you are both stressed from your exams."

The two of them nodded obediently.

"I will, however, be writing home to your parents as this seems to be an ongoing problem between the two of you." She said to them, her voice firm once again, before telling them to get a move on to lunch. "Try not to hex each other on the way." She said as the two of them glared at each other as they walked away.

* * *

It was Wednesday and Ginny had just gotten out of her Transfiguration practical exam. She ran into Pansy in the hallway when she was rushing to lunch, unfortunately it was quite literally and they both went tumbling to the ground. Pansy, of course, thought it had been intentional and it began with snappy comebacks before they finally drew out their wands.

Thankfully, the week was half way over and then it would be break. She was sure that she could avoid confrontation with Pansy until then at least.

Ginny walked with Draco towards the Great Hall after the practical Charms exam on Thursday. All they had left to do was their muggle studies exams tomorrow since they already took their History exam on Tuesday. Walking a little bit ahead of them was Blaise and Pansy, Daphne and Cho not very far in front of her.

"He's asking her to the Yule Ball." Draco said when he noticed her watching them. She scrunched up her nose with distaste. "It's for appearances, I assure you. They look good on each other's arm." He said and Ginny laughed a bit at that. Before she could say anything, Pansy let out a disgusted sound.

She abruptly stopped walking, making the other three around her stop walking. Blaise was looking at her confused, glancing back to Draco and Ginny, who had slowed their walking since they were quickly approaching them.

"Well why don't you just ask her to the Yule Ball then!" Pansy yelled out to Blaise, who was standing maybe a foot or two away from her.

"She has a date." He replied airily, before his face clearly showed that he had not meant to say his sarcastic comment out loud to her. Pansy stomped her foot.

"How can you ask me to go with you and as soon as I say yes you say you have lunch plans with Draco and _Ginny Weasley_." She said, no longer yelling, but Draco and Ginny were now close enough to hear. They both stopped walking immediately, hearing Pansy say Ginny's name with such distaste.

Blaise flicked his glace over to Draco and Ginny for a split second, but this time Pansy had noticed his gaze went off of her. She turned around and seen Draco and Ginny standing there. Apparently she was really unhappy about the situation because she stormed over to them and without warning slapped Ginny across the face.

Ginny's face, which had previously shown amusement, fell into a scorned look. She could hear both Draco and Blaise go to say something, but she responded much faster than them. Rather than saying anything, she dove forward and knocked Pansy to the ground, this time very much intentionally.

The hall was suddenly filled with screaming as students quickly rushed over to see what the commotion was, and unfortunately, they were right outside the Great Hall. It wasn't long before the doors opened, McGonagall's stern face appearing, students trying to see around her as she walked towards the crowd.

Draco and Blaise hurried to separate Pansy and Ginny as McGonagall cut her way through the crowd of students, who were quickly sneaking their way into the Great Hall. No doubt most of them were rushing to tell their friends what they had witnessed. When McGonagall finally reached the fighting girls, the two boys had finally managed to pull them apart.

"What do we have here?" She asked in an obviously disappointed tone. The four of them were standing still, the crowd of students around them completely gone. Draco and Blaise released Ginny and Pansy who were no longer attacking each other.

"Nothing." The two boys said simultaneously and she gave them a stern look. Ginny and Pansy's appearances clearly stated that they had been fighting just like muggles.

"You two better get in the Great Hall before I punish you as well." She said to them and they did not wait around to see if she was serious about punishing them or not. McGonagall looked at the two of them with a stern look, before crossing her arms and a bit of distress had shown in her eyes.

"She attacked me." Ginny quickly said to defend herself, but McGonagall held up her hand.

"You both will report to detention tomorrow night at seven. No exceptions." She said strongly and then sighed. "I supposed it's good that I didn't send the owls to your parents yet." She said before walking away from the two of them without another word. The two teenagers looked at each other, eyes full of disgust and distaste. The urge to continue their fight was strong, but they were both doubting McGonagall holding her temper much longer.

She may just give up and expel them before they end up killing each other.

* * *

McGonagall sat at her desk, constantly looking up to check on Ginny and Pansy. She had placed them in the front of the room, forcing them to sit next to each other and correct all messed up transfiguration practical exams. They sat for an hour in silence, before McGonagall let out a sigh and stood from her desk.

"I have to bring something to Professor Dumbledore. I will be right back, so please stay on your best behavior." She stressed to them as she rolled up a scroll of parchment and walked out of the classroom. She was smart and left all the doors to the classroom wide open so if anything happened, someone passing by would see it.

As soon as they heard her footsteps fade away, they glanced at one another with reproachful looks.

"I cannot believe I am in detention with you. I should be planning my birthday party." Pansy complained and Ginny rolled her eyes.

"You're the one who attacked me in the middle of the corridor. You have no one to blame but yourself."

"If you would stop hanging out with my friends this wouldn't have been a problem." Pansy pointed out and Ginny laughed.

"I can't wait until I find out why it kills you so much for me to be friends with Draco." Ginny said in a low voice, a hint of excitement in it. "Blaise is a part of the package deal when it comes to Draco, but you already know that don't you." She said, her voice still low and Pansy glared.

"Stay away from him." Pansy warned and Ginny laughed, not planning on letting Pansy intimidate her.

"I'm trying to figure out what bothers you the most." Ginny said slowly. "That Draco likes me and hates you, that Blaise would rather hang out with me, or that Hermione would never betray me for you." Ginny pointed out, watching Pansy's face grow red.

"Hermione's already ditching your trip home for one night with me and my friends." Pansy pointed out and Ginny made a face of distaste before quickly putting a scorned look back on her face.

"I don't need to worry about Hermione." Ginny said firmly, placing full confidence in her friend.

"Are you as sure about Blaise and even Draco. We've known each other since birth and we got into a fight over the last school year, less than six months ago." Pansy reminded Ginny who pursed her lips. "This isn't a feud, it's a disagreement."

"You are so off base." Ginny said, trying not to let it show that Pansy had put that thought in her mind now.

"You think this is fun? You have three and half more years ahead of you with me and I have only just begun." Pansy said in a low and dark voice just as they heard the click of McGonagall's shoes coming down the hall. The two of them immediately went back to fixing the mistakes by the time the professor walked back in the room.

"Was that so hard?" She asked them, noticing that they had not tried to kill each other. "That's good enough for me." She said to them, handing them back their wands and telling the girls to enjoy their break.

* * *

Ginny sat on the train next to Ron. The twins had been across from them, but were now hunting down the lunch cart. They sat in silence for a while, Ginny reading the most recent book that she borrowed from Hermione. Her roommate has a collection of muggle books, saying that it runs in the family to 'collect' muggle books.

"What would you do without me?" Ron asked Ginny out of nowhere. She looked up from her book, before turning to look at him with interest, wondering where that came from.

"Promise me that one day I will find out." She replied starkly, but with less harshness because after all it was a joke. Thinking he had nothing else of importance to say, she continued with conversation. "Where is your side kick?" Ginny asked, realizing Harry was absent from their trip to the Burrow.

"Funnily enough, his parents wanted him to come home." Ron responded with and Ginny nodded her head, realizing that it was a good reason. "I, being the amazing big brother that I am," He began with, making Ginny roll her eyes. "Got you a date with Harry for the Yule Ball." He said in a victorious manner, but Ginny's face completely dropped.

What bothered her more? The fact that Ron was letting her be Harry's 'I have no one else' date. Or the fact that she almost automatically opened her mouth to ditch Neville and go with Harry.

"I happened to already have a date." Ginny said sorely, much to Ron's surprise and dismay. "I agreed to go with Neville after Hermione turned him down because she was already asked." Ginny explained and Ron looked, if possible, even more dismal.

"Well Harry is not going to enjoy this letter that I have to send him." Ron remarked with a groan.

"Well you shouldn't be promising me to your friends." Ginny said, suddenly flashed with anger. It seemed to be happening more and more lately which was just even more proof that she was growing up. Teenagers and their mood swings can be fierce and passionate, not to mention cruel, intense and even merciless.

* * *

The small Christmas break had not gone as planned at all. It was just a big mess of parents vs. children and sibling vs. sibling. Saturday had been an early night for most, but Ginny had opened her bedroom door in time to catch the twins sneaking out. There plans were to head to the muggle town and try to find some excitement.

Ginny told them to wait for her and although they were hesitant, she reminded them that she could just wake up mom. It was a low threat, but when the alternative was to sit wide awake in your bed, you needed to use forceful measures.

"Just let me come. Or are you worried your sister, who is only two years younger than you, will embarrass you?" She asked them and they glanced at one another, not really seeing a way out without having a parents woken up.

"You have to do what we tell you." Fred said first and foremost, and Ginny nodded, not bothering to argue on that. It wasn't normal for her to listen to her brothers, but when it came to sneaking out to a party, she would give them what they wanted.

"That starts with no waking up Ron." George quickly threw in.

"Why would I do that. He _would_ embarrass you." Ginny replied with a smile.

"Get ready."

"Hurry up!" Fred added in a hushed tone.

Well the three of them found a party and ending up staying out a lot later than they intended to stay out. Molly busted them as they tried to sneak into the house. While Fred and George coward when they had seen their mom, Ginny felt inflamed. It started as a small argument, but quickly grew as Ginny was the only one of her siblings who ever dared trying to stand up to Molly. Even the twins knew better.

However, with Ginny standing up to their mom, they quickly took her side. Either way they were in trouble, but Ginny was going out with a bang and since when did the twins not a like a bang. Of course, neither side really won or lost.

Molly had grounded all of them, giving them extra chores to do for the remainder of the vacation. However, Ginny stepped in and asked if that included visiting Aunt Muriel, in such a disappointed manner that Molly said the three of them would be staying home. In actuality, that's all they really wanted. Who cares about more chores when you get to miss out on awkward family get-togethers.

Anyways, break had been a disaster and the teenagers were more than thankful to be returning to school. Molly was upset that her little girl was growing up and was much more defiant than her brothers had been at her age. It was just before they were leaving that Ginny realized how much her mom hated to see her growing up.

"Some teenagers have not had the opportunity to develop self-calming skills." Ginny had heard her father's voice as she was walking passed their bedroom. She paused, for some reason knowing that it was about her. "So they deal with stress by simply blowing up or throwing a temper tantrum. They may truly feel guilty or sorry that they've yelled or said hurtful things, but they do not know any other skills to use." Arthur continued and Ginny heard Molly sniff. Of course Ginny felt bad that her mother was upset that she was growing up, but it wasn't like she could just stop.

"Teens often handle stress the only way they know how and through the way they've seen others do it. I'm sure growing up with six older brothers hasn't helped our only daughter learn how to handle stress." He added with a small laugh and Ginny could hear Molly laugh the smallest bit.

"When did you become an expert on teenage girls?" She asked him and there was a moment's pause before he spoke.

"Despite my lack of authoritative skills, I have helped you raise six boys. Ginny may be a girl, but she is still a teenager." Her explained and then Ginny heard movement, realizing they were walking towards the door, she had quickly run away from the room, meeting her brothers in the living room.

"You never told me who Hermione is going to the ball with." Ron pointed out to her, although it was the first time he spoke to her since Sunday morning when he found out they snuck out to a party. He was hurt and disappointed that Ginny didn't wake him. She had a headache, she was tired and rather short with him. He immediately stopped talking to her.

"I know." Was all she said before their parents walking into the living room to say goodbye before they flooed back to school.

* * *

"You're going to the ball with _Neville Longbottom_?" Draco asked Ginny incredulously, not able to believe that she would be going with Longbottom out of everyone in the school. Ginny looked at him and rolled her eyes.

"He asked me and I said yes. Why is that so hard to believe?" She asked him and he kind of shrugged as Blaise came walking up to them.

"Really Weasley? Longbottom?" Blaise asked when he caught up to them, making her narrow her eyes and force him to back off. "Well anyways, that's why I got this." He said holding out a slip of paper. Ginny grabbed it out of his hand.

"Why do you have a note of permission to go to Hogsmede from Slughorn?" Ginny asked and he smirked, looking over to Draco. Ginny turned her gaze to look at Draco, who simply shrugged.

"You can't expect us just sit back and let you attend the ball with Longbottom in a tawdry, secondhand dress." Draco said and she looked at him in disbelief. However, before she could open your mouth, Blaise stepped in.

"I'm afraid you don't have a choice, Miss. Weasley. It's bad enough we associate with you in those crude robes you wear." He said in a joking manner, making Ginny just roll her eyes and give up, letting them drag her off to Hogsmede. Although, it wasn't completely against her will, despite her pride. There was a part of her that was thrilled to be getting a new dress for the ball.

"Where are you guys going?" Hermione asked them as she walked into the common room with Pansy and the other girls, heading back from breakfast.

"You mean, where are _we_ going." Blaise said, spinning Hermione around and dragging her along with the three of them. Draco looked at Blaise with interest, who merely shrugged. "Like we know anything about dress shopping." He said and Draco had to admit that he was right.

* * *

"I would appreciate if you weren't acting so mature when I am trying very hard to feel remorseful for myself." Ginny said while Hermione helped her into another one of the dresses. She had tried on several already, although the guys hadn't approved of any so far.

"Well, you weren't going to leave Neville either way." Hermione said in her matter of fact tone making Ginny roll her eyes.

"I could have gone with Harry." Ginny reminded Hermione who shook her head.

"Harry wanted to go with Cho. It's not the same and I'm sure you would have a horrible time." Hermione said adamantly and Ginny nodded her head, admitting that Hermione was probably right.

"I like this dress." Ginny said when she looked in the mirror. "It's by far the best and even compliments my hair." Ginny said as she looked at the back of the green dress in the mirror.

"Ron will probably hate it, but I like it." Hermione explained and red head had to agree. "I think we should just chose it and let them all be surprised." Hermione said in a quieter voice and Ginny nodded, slowly slipping out of the dress and getting back into her normal clothes.

"I can't see why they wouldn't approve. Just have to convince them to pay for a dress they haven't seen yet." Ginny said as she grabbed the dress and walked out of the dressing room with Hermione. When they walked into the waiting room, Draco was sitting alone.

"Where is the dress?" He asked her and she held up the one in her hand on the hanger.

"I'm getting this one." She said confidently. "Where's Blaise?" She asked when Draco took the dress from her, not bothering to fight the judgment of two girls knowledge of dresses against his knowledge of any kind of shopping.

"Stopping by Three Broomsticks to pick up alcohol from Rosmerta." He explained as he paid the cashier for the dress, Hermione and Ginny looking at clothes on a rack nearby.

"She's letting him buy it?" Ginny asked surprised, which made Hermione scratch her head.

"Why would he buy it?" Draco asked as if it was a daft question.

"She's Pansy's aunt. Rosmerta Parkinson." Hermione slipped in quickly, making Ginny stare at her dumbfounded, before Draco began to rush them out of the store.

* * *

Ginny and Hermione walked down the steps towards the Great Hall on Christmas eve, their heels clicking against the stone ground. Other students were approaching the hall, some going in and some lingering outside waiting for friends or possibly dates. As they walked towards the hall, they ran into Harry, Dean, Seamus and Neville right away.

The guys showered them with compliments, which after how long they spent doing Hermione's hair, they needed. The curls that landed on her shoulder complimented the cascades of layers of the soft shades of pinks to the rich lavenders of her dress. Ginny wore her hair down in soft curls, that compliments her dark green dress. The top was like a strapless corset, which she liked because she had yet to develop a chest to fill a lot of the other dresses so this gave her the look of a fuller chest, while the silky bottom flowed to the ground.

Hermione walked away when Krum approached them and Ginny watched the guys look at the two of them in shock. She smiled when Krum kissed her hand and Ginny turned to look back at the guys just as Ron walked up.

"Ginny!" He said when he seen her dress. It wasn't as if she hadn't picked a dress that covered enough, it was because he was her brother and nothing covered her enough. However, he was immediately distracted when he noticed Hermione walk with Krum over by Cedric and Fleur.

The ball had been a blast and both girls had an amazing time. Ginny had spent the first half of the night with Neville out on the dance floor, before Hannah Abbot from Slughorn's house asked him for a dance. Ginny told him to go for it since they were just her as friends. Before she could even turn to get off of the dance floor, Draco and then Blaise approached her, saying that she owed them a dance for the dress.

After she danced with each one of the twins, who said that she looks amazing, although it was a tad to risqué for their taste. Michael finally approached her when she finally managed to get away for some punch. She ended up spending the rest of the night with him, dancing and talking outside.

* * *

Then, as normal school breaks, it began to fly by and before Ginny knew it the week was over and it was New Year's eve. She was sitting on her bed, watching Hermione get ready for the party that she had been invited to, by Pansy obviously. Yet, here she was, with no plans other than sitting on her bed and reading a book.

"Come with me." Hermione suggested offhandedly.

"I don't see that turning out well." Ginny said and Hermione half shrugged.

"There will be a lot of people there. Pansy might not even notice you and everyone else doesn't hate you. Just watched out for Daphne, because those two are like sisters." Hermione explained to Ginny, who sat on the bed, not sure if she really wanted to risk it. "I'm not saying you have to go or anything. I just rather invite you than listen to you complain." Hermione said with a smile, making Ginny stick out her tongue.

"Bloody hell, I'll go for the simple fact that I could ruin Pansy's New Year." Ginny said with a smile, making Hermione roll her eyes.

* * *

Pansy was standing next to her sister and Daphne when she noticed Ginny walking through the crowd. She immediately tensed up, wondering when she got the nerve to show up at one of her parties. Abigail immediately noticed her sister's tension, following her eyes to the red head who was weaving through the crowd.

"I don't know why you don't like her." She said simply. "Just ignore that she is here. There are plenty of people here to distract you." Abigail said, before going off to dance with Fred when he walked up to her. Pansy watched her leave before crossing her arms. She could not just simply let it go.

"I have an idea. Come with me." Pansy said to Daphne after a moment, the blonde obediently following the raven haired girl. Five minutes later, Daphne was watching Pansy hand Susan Bones a drink. "Bring it to Ginny Weasley from me as a peace offering for the evening." Pansy ordered, saying that her and Daphne would be more willing to hang out with her once she did this. She nodded, walking off into the crowd to find the long, red hair.

"Why did you need to talk to Damien and what did you put in that drink?" Daphne asked in a low voice and Pansy responded without hesitation and not even looking at Daphne.

"Damien experiments with different potions. He has one that will make her completely black out the next twelve hours." Pansy said, not taking her eyes off of Susan as she weaved her way through the crowd.

"Isn't that dangerous?" Daphne asked her in a worried voice, but Pansy waved it off. Susan approached Ginny and handed her the drink, which she accepted. Pansy smiled.

"Let's go before she gets back here. We'll split up and meet back here in fifteen minutes." Pansy said quickly and Daphne nodded before they walked off in separate directions. Pansy slipped through the crowd, her eyes scanning for a certain person. She picked up a drink off of a nearby tray that was floating around the room.

She continued to walk, glancing around the room and nonchalantly pouring something into the drink, making sure to keep her head up so she didn't raise suspicion. Her eyes finally met violet eyes and she slid up next to Blaise.

"Fire Whiskey." Pansy offered to Blaise, which he greatly accepted after quickly finishing the one already in his hand.

"You know me so well." He said with a laugh as she grabbed another drink off of a tray. She began to quickly drink, while he watched her drink it down. "Someone is trying to get smashed." Blaise pointed out and Pansy laughed dryly.

"Not quite. Daphne isn't drinking tonight so I promised not to drink around her." Pansy mentioned and Blaise nodded understandingly. "You'll have to say hi of course, so you better finish your drink. I'm supposed to meet up with her soon." She added and he smirked, quickly drinking the rest of his drink and setting down the empty cup, following her to go find Daphne.

They walked through the crowd and were back in the meeting spot before Daphne got there. "I know that Ginny is here." Pansy pointed out after a silence took over them as they waited.

"She is? I haven't seen her." Blaise admitted honestly, although he had shown up fashionably late since he had done some pre-party drinking with Draco. Pansy wasn't the least bit surprised that he got a few drinks in him before a party.

"I have decided to make amends for the night. I won't let her ruin my new year." Pansy slipped in and Blaise nodded his head impressed. "After this, it's back to normal. She has quite the personality and is actually quite attractive. I can't risk her popularity rising." Pansy added with a smile and Blaise rolled his eyes.

"I almost thought you were growing up." Blaise said, rubbing his eyes, feeling the alcohol taking effect. Pansy smiled.

"I am growing up. I will be spending all night with Daphne, which means you will probably hunt down Ginny after you see Daphne. I know you'll probably spend the rest of the party with her and I'm okay with it." Pansy said in a very Zen like manner. "For tonight at least." She added as Daphne walked back up to them.

The three of them chatted for a while, sipping on nonalcoholic drinks. It was casual conversation and it died away because Christmas break hadn't brought any exciting news thus far. It wasn't long before Blaise decided to head back into the rest of the party.

"Leaving already?" Daphne asked, feigning emotional turmoil.

"He's going to find alcohol and then he's going to seduce Ginny." Pansy said and Blaise looked at in with interest, his vision more blurred than it usually was after a few drinks.

"I don't think I see the seduction of Ginny happening tonight." He said, which made Daphne raise an eyebrow.

"You're Blaise Zabini. You can seduce anyone." Daphne said to add to his ego, surprised that Pansy seemed so calm about this. Pansy even looked at Daphne impressed, wondering if she forgot about the drink Pansy had Susan give Ginny a mere twenty minutes ago.

_They say that teenagers scare the living shit out of me  
They could care less as long as someone'll bleed  
So darken your clothes or strike a violent pose  
Maybe they'll leave you alone, but not me  
The boys and girls in the clique  
The awful names that they stick  
You're never gonna fit in much, kid_

_-_My Chemical Romance


	5. All I Want

**Chapter Five**

Ginny's eyes popped and she immediately began to take in her surroundings as soon as the light wasn't blinding her. She recognized right away that she was in her dormitory room with no recollection of how she got there. She remembered getting to the party and meeting up with Krum, spending some time with Hermione and Krum, before going off on her own.

She had drank a little bit, but not an extreme amount, so she really didn't have a clue how she couldn't remember. She glanced over to Hermione's bed, noticing it was messed up, but she was not in it. It was very unlike Hermione to leave her bed a mess. She usually made it before she did anything else in the morning.

The door to the dorm opened, but rather than Hermione walking in, Draco did. He walked into the room and shut the door before he realized that she was now awake. She was confused and her world was spinning, metaphorically and literally. Her entire body was completely weighed down and most of her energy was on keeping her eyes open.

"I brought you a glass of water. Breakfast just began. Hermione went to go eat and bring you something back." He explained walking over to the bed and setting down the glass of water. He helped her sit up a bit and propped a pillow against the well, letting her sit back before giving her the water.

"What happened?" She asked him after she took a drink, realizing how thirsty she had been. He took the water from her and set it back down.

"I was hoping you could tell me." He said and she shook her head. "I figured. Well after I got Hermione to help me bring you back to the room and stick around in case you woke up, I went and looked for Daphne."

* * *

_Draco returned to the party for the second time that evening. The first time he needed to see for himself that Ginny had gone to the party. He really couldn't believe she would just think it would be wise to attend the party. Although, she always seemed to underestimate how much he warned her to just ignore Pansy._

_After he had found her and learned that Ginny could not even stand on her own, he couldn't believe she was naïve enough to attend a party with many students who disliked her. Let alone get completely smashed. Blaise was nearby, walking in Draco's direction, holding two drinks, but Hermione came rushing up before he could ask for his help. The two of them helped Ginny back to the room, before he returned to the party._

_It hadn't taken more than ten minutes to find Daphne and with even more luck, she was nowhere near Pansy._

"_We need to talk." He said, roughly grabbing her arm and pulling her away from the crowd. She was surprised and kept asking what was going on, shocked that he was talking to her because they haven't spoken in months._

"_Draco! What is going on?" She asked him forcefully, pulling her arm out of his grasp once they were in a secluded part of the party in the room of requirement._

"_I know you know what happened." He said to her in a low voice, making her look down. "I also know that you are going to tell me." He said in a forceful tone and she indeed caved. She told him about what Pansy put in the drink she sent to Ginny and even went into how she felt that Pansy was pushing Blaise to drink more and hang out with Ginny._

* * *

"I already spoke with Blaise. I woke him up maybe an hour ago. He had too much to drink last night. Can't even remember getting back to the room, let alone what had been on his mind last night." Draco explained to Ginny who just sat there, listening to what he had to say.

"Daphne is that easy to break?" Ginny inquired and Draco smirked, shaking his head.

"I still hold some weight on her integrity." He admitted and Ginny nodded slowly.

"You heard that I went to the party and knew it was just a complete bad idea, didn't you." Ginny said with a small smile and he laughed a bit.

"Chang's roommate had mentioned how you went with Hermione. I know Pansy well enough to know she wouldn't take you being at the party very well." He explained and she nodded her head slowly, licking her lips.

"Did you tell Blaise that Pansy, what did she do, drugged me?" Ginny asked him after a moment of silence and he hesitated for a moment.

"I thought it was best not to mention it." He said carefully and she nodded her head in agreement.

"Don't tell Hermione that it was her. This is between me and Pansy." Ginny said stubbornly and Draco simply nodded, not asking why a girl's brain worked the way it did. She could easily stop Hermione from being friends with Pansy, but Hermione would never be able to decide what type of person Pansy actually is for herself.

"Well, happy new year." Draco said after a long silence and Ginny nodded her head slowly.

"Draco?" She asked to get his attention. He looked over at her and she lean forward, closer to his face before placing a light kiss on his lips, surprising him. "Thanks for being my friend." She said, initiating her first kiss and thanking him for giving her a chance to have a good year.

"You're welcome. I guess I should thank you as well. I'm sure neither of us are too easy to be friends with all the time." He said, still shocked although with a bit of a chuckle at the end.

"I'm sure it will get harder, too." Ginny admitted and he couldn't help but agree. "Especially because no one likes that we are friends." She stated, to which he nodded to show that he had noticed as well.

"Well we are just going to have to make our own group of friends."

"Yeah, I don't really fit in here. I guess I'm a bit different." She admitted and he shrugged.

"Different isn't so bad. I like different, maybe that's why you're my best friend." He admitted, before catching what he said and backtracking a little bit. "This school has too much of the same anyway." He said quickly, but Ginny just stared at him smiling.

"I'm your best friend?" She asked him in a gleeful way that made him roll his eyes.

"Quit being such a girl." He said snappily and she continued to smile.

"I'm sure since I'm your _best friend_ you would have noticed by now that I am a girl." She teased him and he rolled his eyes as the dorm room door opened and Hermione walked in. She smiled upon seeing that Ginny was awake, rushing over to the girl, napkins full of food. She began to fuss over the girl, saying she needed to eat, if she felt up to it. That's why she brought so much food, not sure what she would want to eat.

"I wasn't sure if you would be really hungry or uninterested in food." Hermione continued on, but Ginny finally cut her off.

"So you assumed as a Weasley I would be really hungry?" She asked with a laugh and Hermione looked a bit let down. "I appreciate it, Hermione, I really do. Just take a breath." She elaborated, still smiling, which made Hermione crack a smile.

"I'm stealing this." Draco said, reaching into one of the napkins and grabbing some eggs and toast.

"Hey, I'm a Weasley! I'll bite your hand off if you touch my food." Ginny snapped at him and he laughed as he got up.

"Well, it looks like Hermione has it from here. I'll be taking a nap." Draco said, eating his breakfast as he walked out of their dorm room, heading off to his room. Hermione smiled at Ginny, who at her breakfast in silence, although was not up to eating all of it. As soon as she finished as much as she could eat, she immediately began to feel immensely tired again.

"Go ahead and go back to sleep. I'm tired so I can only manage how you must be feeling." Hermione said, starting to fuss over her again. Ginny just nodded a bit, suddenly feeling extremely tired. She adjusted her pillow and laid down, sure that she was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

* * *

Ron had gotten over the twins and Ginny sneaking out to the party without him as soon as they got back to school. On the last day of break, Ginny went out onto the grounds with her brothers, Hermione and a couple of the other guys in their house. A snowstorm came through after Christmas, leaving the grounds completely blanketed with thick snow.

They had a massive snow ball fight, four on four, so that when they finally finished and returned to the school, they were sopping wet. They laughed as they walked back to the dorm rooms, running when they heard Filch yelling about the puddles of water. Ginny and Hermione were still laughing as they walked into their room, Hermione using a drying spell on them so they could change quickly.

Although most of the school had stayed majority of the break for the dance, some students had gone home. Some parents even insisted that their children were flooed home after Christmas to return on the train. Ginny assumed it was the parents clinging to their children after the frightening scene at the World Cup over the summer. The point was that tonight for dinner the Great Hall would be filled once again.

"Break was nice, but the point of school is not Christmas break." Hermione said in her matter of fact tone, making Ginny scrunch up her face as Hermione finished tying her red hair back in a plait that matched her own hairstyle.

"You never told me how the ball was." Ginny pointed out, desperate to lead the conversation away from school.

"It was, for lack of a better word, magical." Hermione confessed breathlessly. "I mean, I spent a lot of the night trying to get Viktor to say my name correctly, but he got close enough for people to know he was addressing me." She explained and Ginny laughed, practically hearing Krum butchering Hermione's name in his thick accent. Plenty of people who spoke proper English couldn't say her name correctly. Hermione continued to go into detail of the night, including her first kiss and then her first kiss of the new year, before turning the question on Ginny.

Ginny had been completely lost in thought as Hermione revealed her first kiss. It was as if it just hit her that her first kiss was completely random when she was trying to piece together the previous night and remained conscious long enough to hear if anything had happened to her. Although, looking back on it, it wasn't as bad as she was making it seem. She was thankful that he saved her from whatever would have happened, but now she would always remember that her first kiss was with her best friend when she was impulsive and semiconscious.

"How was the ball with Neville?" Hermione inquired for the second time since she finished her story, a bit pink in the face because Ginny said she was lost thought over just wanting to tell the world her best friend's first kiss was with an international Quidditch player.

"It went amazingly well. I mean, we spent almost the entire first half of the dance together, before Hannah Abbott came and swooped Neville away from me. I spent the entire second half of the dance with Michael." Ginny said and Hermione looked impressed.

"He dove in as soon as Neville left, right?" Hermione asked and Ginny laughed.

"Almost. I was forced to dance by Fred and George and by Blaise and Draco. Then Michael took his chance, so technically he was fifth in line when Neville left." She explained with a laugh and Hermione nodded, looking interested in what the red head was explaining. "What?" Ginny asked, noticing the look on Hermione's face.

"Nothing." She said simply waving it off. "So how are things with Michael now?" She asked and Ginny eyed her for a moment, before speaking.

"Well he asked me to the first Hogsmede of the new term, which hasn't even been announced yet." Ginny explained and Hermione smiled for her best friend. "So I take it you're happy you went to the ball with Viktor." She said, laughing when she said his first name. Hermione hesitated for a moment and Ginny immediately noticed. "What is it?" Ginny asked quickly and Hermione sighed.

"Well, I don't see my relationship with Viktor going much passed this year." Hermione explained and Ginny nodded.

"Try telling that to Ron. He keeps talking about how my roommate shouldn't be dating guys that much older." Ginny said with a laugh and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"I actually had hoped Ron would ask me before Viktor finally did." Hermione explained and Ginny looked at Hermione with an mesmerized look on her face.

"No judging or anything, crush on my brothers all you want, but if you make a move on me, I'll _crucio _the bloody hell out of you." Ginny pointed out, sounding very much like Ron when she said 'bloody hell'.

"You don't have to worry about that. Besides, ever since I started spending time with Ron and Harry, I've come to realize Ron will probably be blind to me forever." Hermione admitted and Ginny laughed dryly, thinking of Harry.

"Wait, you've been hanging out with Harry and Ron?" Ginny asked, the fact suddenly dawning on her.

"We started hanging out a bit after we all stayed at your house." She explained simply and Ginny nodded, once again getting lost in thought. How is it that Hermione was able to be friends with Harry and Ron, Pansy and herself all at once? Not to mention how much she studies and works on homework. If Ginny didn't sleep in the same room as Hermione, she would swear the girl never slept.

Then another thought dawned into Ginny's mind. Cho was now dating Cedric, which meant Harry would really have no choice but to simply let it go. Not that he would ever bother to look her way, but what if he looked at Hermione tomorrow and decided that he liked her after all the time they've spent together.

Would it be possible for Harry to just wake up one day and decide that she is more than just a friend to him? Of course it was possible, but was it likely to happen. Ginny had once worried what would happen if her best friend began dating her brother, but now that seemed to be such a trivial thought. What would happen if her best friend began dating her longtime crush?

Would Hermione even date Harry given the fact that she knows about Ginny's feelings for him? What would happen if Harry began to pursue Hermione and she turned him away? Or maybe she would think it over or ask Ginny what her opinion was on the matter. In that case, what would Ginny say to her? Tell her to keep away from him or go for it if she thinks she has feelings for him.

* * *

'Hogwarts Annual School Lock In' was just a way to force all the students to coexist for one night. Unfortunately it was mandatory and all students had to been in the Great Hall by five in the afternoon, on a Saturday of all days. Ginny was less than thrilled to learn that from five until the next morning she would be stuck with the rest of the student body. They were only allowed in the Great Hall and the Entrance Hall, which included a couple classrooms for the activities that would be taking place.

Ginny honestly didn't understand the point of having a lock in at a school they lived in most of the year, but it didn't really matter what she thought of the idea. Fred and George had said it actually wasn't that bad, but they also ran in a different crowd of people. Ginny was currently laying on her bed with her dorm room wide open, waiting until the very last minute.

Hermione had gone down about twenty minutes ago, having to meet up with Pansy and the others, but Ginny had no interest of being stuck with the rest of her classmates before she had to be. Since Hermione had left, Ginny had spent a good portion of the time alone to think about what things could have been like. It hadn't been an intentional train of thought, but she found herself thinking about it.

She wondered if she would be heading down to the Great Hall early with Hermione anticipating a night with friends if she hadn't insulted Pansy that first night. Even so many months into school, Ginny still couldn't get over the fact that any chance she had of popularity at Hogwarts had been thrown away so quickly. She even wondered if Neville had any idea that because she stuck up for him, she had been deemed unworthy by others, which she honestly hoped he didn't.

She could have been invited to Pansy's birthday party and she would actually remember how she rang in the new year. She wondered if she would still see Pansy for who she was or if she would be blinded by the simple approval and acceptance of Pansy and her followers. If she had become friends with Pansy right away, she wouldn't have been propositioned to end her friendship with Draco.

She wouldn't be friends with Draco and she knew that is the way things would have been. She had asked him months ago what had made him walk up to her that first night when he noticed her watching the popular crowd. He hadn't hesitated to admit that it had been what she had said to Pansy, the way she immediately just knew the type of person Pansy was inside. She wasn't fooled by her and he wanted to be friends with someone like that.

Would it have been worth it to have everything she had wanted upon starting at Hogwarts if she was never friends with Draco? Everything. The big group of friends, everyone knowing who she was and the boys to find her attractive enough to pursue. Obviously she had chosen not to take Pansy's offer of all of that for her friendship with Draco, but that was clearly after they were already friends. If possible, would she go back and stop herself from insulting Pansy so she can have everything she wanted, which would stop Draco from introducing himself.

Go back to before they were even friends so she wouldn't have to choose, but to live in an eternal bliss of ignorance.

Despite all the things she wants, she couldn't imagine choosing Pansy over Draco, knowing everything she knows now. Draco had by far proven himself to be a good friend, possibly one of the best friends she could make in a lifetime. Just saving her on new year's was worth everything that Pansy could ever offer her in a lifetime. It was worth so much more than that to be completely honest. Nothing could stop her from being friends with him, not even her relationship with Ron. She felt horrible for thinking she would choose a new friendship over her rock solid relationship with her closest brother, but he refused to accept that she wasn't always going to always be the same little sister.

She was growing up and she was learning who she was, finding out who she was okay with being.

She was happy as Draco Malfoy's best friend and Pansy Parkinson worst enemy. Which brought to mind the fact that she could not let Pansy just get away with drugging her. That was something that she was not going to just let go and she didn't care what anyone had to say about it, although no one knew Pansy was the one who drugged her.

Oh, it truly had been a wonderful moment when Ginny had find out that somehow the entire school had learned how she tried to crash the New Year's party and was drugged with some potion that was slipped into her drink. As it turns out, Draco had not only not told Blaise that Pansy drugged her, but hadn't told her that she had been drugged at all.

Blaise tried to give her the most awkward apology ever, but Ginny stopped him, telling him that Draco explained that he couldn't even remember the night, let alone if he tried to get with her.

The even better moment was when Ron had approached her, not far behind him were Fred and George. All of them were fussing over her, wondering if they should write home. They continuously asked her if she was okay, while she pleaded for them not to write home, knowing her parents would for sure bring her home. They agreed not to write home, forbidden her from attending those parties and made her promise to come to them if she had any problems.

Ron had not been thrilled to hear that Draco had been the one to save her, but Fred and George suddenly had more respect for 'Ginny's little blonde friend'. Despite the whole school knowing that Ginny had been drugged, the only people who knew that Pansy had been the one to do it were Draco, Ginny, Daphne and Pansy herself.

That doesn't mean that Pansy isn't questioning who Ginny told. Pansy may not even be sure that anyone knows that it was her besides Daphne, but Ginny was going to make sure that Pansy knew that she knew.

* * *

Ginny had been sure tonight would be horrible as soon as she found out she was in the same group as Pansy Parkinson. The teachers had set up some activities for the first half of the night. For the first hour they played a truth game, which was actually truthful thanks to magic. It was a game to show each teen that they are not so different from one another.

The only thing that mattered to Ginny was Pansy's scorned look when Ginny was one of the students who already had their first kiss, while Pansy was not. There were a couple other things, but that look had made the entire hour for Ginny.

The next three hours were not nearly as exciting, but they were not bad either. With the close professor supervision, Pansy couldn't harass Ginny so being stuck with her for four hours was not the least bit horrible. At nine, the students returned to the Great Hall to find a wall separating the room into two. One side was the 'quiet side' for student to talk quietly or sleep when they were ready. The other side was for activities and loud games for the students who were not tired or ready to relax.

Ginny went back and forth to both sides, running into a few people who she knew from primary school, but had yet to talk to this year. Mostly they were students who she knew, but ran in different crowds before coming to Hogwarts. Now that Ginny was placed at the bottom, she wasn't so different from the other students who rejected the _well liked_ student she used to be.

There was Evelyn Wicks who Ginny had been friends with when they were first years. She has long, brown and wavy hair with almond shaped hazel eyes. Over their second year, they quickly grew apart, but they promised to keep in touch now that they had talked again. Ginny wasn't about to turn down friendship with someone who disliked most of the other students as well.

After running into her, she ran into Holden Porter, who had been assigned to the same house as Evelyn. He introduced Ginny to his friend Cameron Richards and had agreed that they should all hang out again. Ginny hadn't really been friends with Holden back in Primary, but they seemed to have quite a bit more in common now.

Last, she ran into Shauna Fawcett, a girl Ginny had known since childhood since they live relatively close to one another. She has shoulder length, dirty blonde hair with brilliant green eyes. However, once going to Primary school they were separated into different crowds and didn't keep in touch, which Ginny couldn't understand now. She had chosen to be friends with students like Cho over Shauna.

After running into the three of them and agreeing to make it a point to hanging out, she made her way back to the quiet side. She had picked out Draco and Blaise in the corner of the room, an extra sleeping bag next to them. She smiled to herself, knowing without a doubt in her mind that it was for her.

Suddenly she was sure without a doubt that she wouldn't have been happier in the other crowd. She wouldn't get to know the side of Draco that apparently not many others know. She wouldn't be getting to know the other side of Blaise, the one that isn't just the sexy, silent bloke. The one that is Draco's best friend and actually had a great personality. Both of them did and they both meshed with her so well.

She began to make her over to them when they noticed her and waved her over. As she started to walk, she noticed someone move out of the corner of her eye. She wasn't exactly sure what made her look, but she did and she realized it was Pansy. She was heading to the bathroom, without any of her minions by her side. Ginny simply couldn't that go to waste.

* * *

"Where is she going?" Draco asked as they notice Ginny exit the Great Hall.

"I'm assuming the bathroom." Blaise suggested, before adding, "But if you are really worried, we can go check on her in a couple minutes." He said with a smirk, receiving a dirty look from the other male.

"It seems pretty obvious that someone has it in for her." Draco put in and Blaise eyed him carefully for a moment.

"Is she a secret girlfriend of yours or something?" Blaise asked him and Draco looked at him shocked.

"She is simply a friend." Draco said rationally, but Blaise shrugged.

"Seems like more. You were ready to kill me the other morning." Blaise reminded him, remembering very well waking up to Draco yelling and not remembering how he had gotten back to his room.

"I prefer if my best friend didn't take advantage of the other best friend." Draco reasoned and Blaise smirked.

"You don't have to worry about me. She wouldn't be taking advantage of me anyway." He said as a joke and Draco looked at him seriously. "You seriously think I would have done something if she tried to stop me?" Blaise asked, a slight hint of hurt in his voice.

"She was drugged, she might have been able to say no." He once again reasoned and Blaise eyed him carefully again. "I'm not into her, so stop thinking that." Draco snapped noticing Blaise's look, making the other guy laugh and change the direction of the conversation.

* * *

"Hey, Pansy." Ginny called out as she approached the other girl, making sure to look as composed and calm as possible. Inside, her blood was pulsing through her body, thinking of hundreds of things she wanted to say or do to the girl in front of her.

"What do you want?" Pansy asked her in a snappy tone, not pleased when she turned around to see that it was Ginny that called out to her. The red head continued to walk closer, not saying anything right away and Pansy immediately looked threatened. Ginny had the strong urge to slap her, but she would be expecting that.

"I know it was you." Ginny said when she was standing right in front of Pansy, who looked confused and shocked by Ginny's words. "I know you are the one who drugged me at the party."

"Why don't you prove it." Pansy said in a low voice, that had immediately given her away, although Ginny already knew the truth.

"I don't have to because I know the truth and that is what matters to me. I don't care who else knows because I am satisfied knowing that you tried to make sure I wouldn't know it was you, but I do." Ginny said in a calm voice, watching Pansy's face change expression, not exactly sure how she should feel right now.

"So what, you came to tell me that you know, but you're not going to tell anyone. No blackmail, no backbone." Pansy said with a roll of the eyes, making Ginny shake her head.

"It'll take more than blackmail to make me happy. So you don't have to worry, Hermione has no idea you were the one responsible. I've decided that it was best for her to find out how truly disgusting and despicable you are." Ginny admitted and Pansy's eyes narrowed.

"Like that it supposed to bother me." Pansy said, rubbing it off, but Ginny simply smiled.

"Draco, however, does know it was you." She said and she watched Pansy's face completely fall. "You think he hated you before? I don't think you have any chance at fixing your friendship. The simple thought of you makes him physically ill, so your idea that things will just fix themselves between you two is now a distant fantasy." Ginny explained calmly, with a smile on her face that grew the more disheartened Pansy looked. Ginny smiled one last big smile, before she turned to walk away.

She was a bit down the hall before Pansy called out to her. "What does Blaise know?" She asked, which made Ginny turn back around and her smile was now replaced with a smirk.

"I'll let you find that one out on your own." Ginny responded with, before she turned and continued walking down the hall, satisfied with leaving Pansy to wonder exactly how much Blaise knows about her and how much Draco hates her.

* * *

Pansy walked back into the Great Hall, heading back over to her group of friends and immediately dragged Daphne away from the rest of the girls and towards the other side of the room. She then proceeded to explained everything that Ginny had just said to her, venting her worries to Daphne.

"How could she have found out?" Pansy asked desperately, not expecting in the least what actually happened. She didn't even believe it as the words left Daphne's mouth.

"He asked me and I just couldn't lie to him." Daphne confessed quickly and Pansy looked at her confused. "I told Draco that it was you." She fully admitted, watching as Pansy's eyes grew wild, before she stormed away after telling Daphne not to bother coming back to her sleeping bag.

_Let's leave no words unspoken  
And save regrets for the broken  
Will you even look back when you think of me?  
All I want is a place to call my own  
To mend the hearts of everyone who feels alone  
Whoa, you know to keep your hopes up high  
And your head down low_

_-_A Day to Remember


	6. Awake and Alive

**Song **is Awake and Alive by Skillet.

* * *

**Chapter Six**

_I'm awake, I'm alive_

_Now I know what I believe inside_

_Now it's my time_

_I'll do what I want 'cause this is my life_

_Right here, right now_

_Stand my ground and never back down_

_I know what I believe inside_

_I'm awake, and I'm alive_

"Pansy is becoming bloody annoying." Blaise complained as he collapsed onto his bed. Draco, who had been reading in his bed when Blaise returned to the room, could not agree more. Although he had been annoyed with her for quite some time now, she was becoming even more incessant on having him talk to her.

February is a short month, but she was making it excruciatingly long. She had made a few effort to talk to him already and it was getting harder and harder to just pretend that she was not trying to get him to talk back. Several times, he had noticed her trying to make eye contact with him and even Blaise had mentioned under his breath a few times that she was staring at him.

"That is quite old news, mate." Draco said with a small smirk, making Blaise roll his eyes.

"Well she has been worse the past couple weeks. It's bloody irritating." Blaise complained and Draco simply shrugged. "She wanted me to tell you she is sorry about what happened to Ginny." Blaise tossed in casually and Draco quickly looked up from his book.

"She is sorry about what?" He asked, wondering exactly what Pansy had said to him.

"She said she was sorry that Ginny was drugged at the new year's party." He said like it was obvious that is what he meant, but Draco simply nodded.

"Did she say she knows who did it?" Draco asked him and Blaise shook his head.

"Never mentioned it, so I assume she doesn't know." Blaise explained and Draco laughed dryly at her apology. She very well knew who had drugged Ginny and it was just that Blaise was the one who simply didn't know. But what you don't know, can't hurt you.

At least not right away.

* * *

Hermione and Ginny sat on Ginny's bed, while looking through a set of picture from the Yule Ball that had finally been developed. There were plenty pictures of Krum and Hermione on the dance floor or having a conversation. They even got their good night kiss and Hermione flushed a bright pink when that one had appeared in one of Rita Skeeter's articles.

Ginny had been in several photos as well. She now had photos of her dancing with each one of the twins, as well as the other guys. She smiled as she flipped through them.

"I'm going to have to get frames for some of these next time were in Hogsmede." She said, copying the pictures that she was in, as well as of few of the ones with Hermione and Krum for herself. She had to have the one of them kissing, mostly because he was a Quidditch star.

"You really did look good." Hermione said, looking at the picture of Ginny with Blaise and then picking up the one with her and Draco. "They really wanted you to look a certain way." She said in a sort of offhand manner, but it quickly caught Ginny's attention.

"Okay, I know you are just dying to say something." Ginny pointed out and Hermione kind of shrugged a bit, seemingly not sure if she really wanted to bring it up. Ginny gave her an annoyed look for bringing it up and then dropping it. "Not that I am counting, but I recall you giving me a look like you wanted to talk about something and then saying it was nothing. When we were talking about the Yule Ball." Ginny said, her voice sounding annoyed.

"I'm sorry about that. It's just that I've been thinking and I always tend to over think things." Hermione confessed and Ginny laughed dryly.

"Definitely can't lie about that. So just tell me what you are thinking about and I'll solve that for you." Ginny suggested and Hermione nodded a bit after a few moments.

"Well the thing is, Pansy worries that if she were to let you grow to be popular that you would overthrow her." Hermione explained to Ginny, who looked shocked and uninterested in Pansy's worry. "I know that you just want to be part of the group and not in control of it, but it doesn't mean that Pansy is any less worried about it." She confessed and Ginny just stared at her blankly.

"Sorry, but I'm missing the point." Ginny admitted and Hermione nodded, continuing on.

"I think she is worried about the wrong thing." Hermione said, which left Ginny just to stare, waiting for her to continue. "Instead of letting you rise to popularity in her group, she is pushing you away, but you're still rising on your own. She is pushing you up and away." Hermione explained, but nothing had yet to make an impact on Ginny.

"I hope the point is coming soon." She muttered, making Hermione roll her eyes.

"Don't you see what she is doing? She is giving you the chance to raise your own side of rebels. The students who rebel against the popular kids in school. All they need is a leader to form them into a group." She said and Ginny looked at her in complete disbelief. "She should be more worried about having you as an enemy, or better yet, having you as the leader of her enemies." She explained and Ginny looked at her thoughtfully.

"Not that I don't think what you're saying is interesting, but what does it have to do with the Yule Ball or Draco and Blaise?" Ginny asked and Hermione once again continued on.

"They want that to happen." She said simply and Ginny just sat there for a moment, letting the silence take over.

"Come again?" Ginny asked her to explain herself and Hermione smiled, knowing that Ginny was indeed interested.

"You possess all the qualities to control a group like Pansy does, you just need to learn to use it." She said, before voice dropped to a lower tone although no one was around to hear. "As the leader of the rebels, you wouldn't be beautiful and popular like Abigail and Pansy. You would be gorgeous and notorious, which is much more your style, and they know that." Hermione elaborated and Ginny sat for a moment, letting it all soak in.

"What makes you think that they are trying to make me into some leader of rebels. It sounds so…" She trailed off, not able to think of a word to describe it and Hermione smiled.

"Exactly. It's no different than any other power. Pansy and her group of friends have the ultimate power in the school and there is always a rebellion against power." She said and Ginny stared at her dumbstruck. "Draco and Blaise made sure to pay for you to have a first hand, top of the line dress. Not only so you wouldn't be attending the ball in a second hand dress, but because you were attending the ball with Neville Longbottom."

"I don't get it." Ginny confessed, making Hermione stand up as if it would help her explain herself better.

"You made going to the ball with Neville the cool thing to do!" Hermione exasperated. "You looked amazing enough for everyone to notice you and you acted so natural around Neville because he is your friend." She explained in such a manner that had Ginny's eyes wide. "If I pieced all of this together correctly, it all happened exactly as they wanted it to work out. Neville ended up with a date that night that prior to the evening had not said two words to him. You were photographed dancing with Fred and George Weasley, as well as Draco and Blaise!" She exclaimed and Ginny laughed dryly.

"They are my brothers and friends, what is the big deal?" Ginny asked and Hermione plopped down onto her bed.

"It all about the image. You're brothers and Blaise may be a part of the 'in crowd', but they are the rebels of it and you have a relationship with each of them. Draco, well he definitely has made a bit of a name for himself as Pansy's enemy, and Michael's dark nature gives you the exact image that they wanted you to have." Hermione explained and Ginny once again just stared for quite a period of time.

"I'll talk to them and they can tell me if you're overthinking." Ginny said before laughing and Hermione rolled her eyes, quite confident in what she had just explained.

"Let's do it. Right now. I'm sure they are in their room." Hermione said, once again standing up. Ginny looked shocked that they were going to go parading up to them right now, but Hermione already had the door open. Ginny quickly got up and followed her as she headed to the other side of the common room. Blaise and Draco were indeed in their room, their door open as they both worked on homework.

Hermione knocked on the door to get their attention, both of them looking up. Ginny could practically see the smirks and hear the laughter coming from them when Hermione began to explain her working theory. However, although they did smirk, they did not laugh.

"You are truly too smart for your own good." Blaise told Hermione when she finished explaining everything that she had just explained to Ginny in their room.

"It more started out as a drunk conversation." Draco said, making Hermione looked at Ginny with an 'I told you so' look, before heading back to their room. Ginny watched her leave, before turning to look at the guys. She then quickly walked the rest of the way into their room, before shutting the door and turning back around to face them.

"Okay, someone needs to explain to me what is going on." Ginny said quickly, making both the boys close up their school books and sit up on their own respective bed.

"It began with us simply talking about our problems with Pansy and the problems between the two of you." Blaise explained simply. "Hermione got it pretty much right on the nose, although helping Neville score a date wasn't part of the plan." He admitted in a nonchalant tone, making Ginny roll her eyes.

"Not that you really need help, but with the two of us behind you, you could very well be the face of the rebellion in the school." Draco elaborated, making Ginny sit down in a chair they had in their room. She sat there for a moment, both of the guys looking at her, wondering what she was going to say. What was she going to say?

They said she would be notorious. She would have the popularity, the friends, guy's attraction to her. She could have it all in her own group of likeminded teenagers, all of whom dislike Pansy greatly.

"So what do I do?" She asked them, making both of their faces break out into a smirk.

* * *

The days of February slowly began to fade by and the second task was quickly approaching, making it become the topic of conversation throughout the school once again. However, Hermione and Ginny had more important things to discuss. Like how Hermione was completely right and how Ginny now wanted nothing more or less.

Ginny had now definitely kept her word to Evelyn, Shauna and Holden. She had sought out each of them during the class that they shared, but never bothered to talk in before. Draco and Blaise said for her to rise her own side, she would need to know students from other houses, but as it turned out, she already did.

"You're actually going to do it?" Hermione asked, surprised that Ginny had wasted no time in deciding that she wanted to be at the forefront of the student rebellion.

"I can have everything I wanted upon coming to Hogwarts and tick off Pansy even more? Of course I'm going to do it." Ginny said excitedly, already talking to more and more people each day.

"You don't have to do anything other than be friends with Draco to tick off Pansy." Hermione said, making Ginny turn around and look at her friend. "Pansy has always had a thing for Draco, but since he doesn't speak to her anymore, she's lost her chance. The fact that you are always around him and dislike her as much as him, it winds her up. She is driven mad with jealousy every time she sees you with him." Hermione elaborated and Ginny nodded, a small smile appearing at her lips.

Ginny's mind began to spin as she thought about what Hermione had just said. Pansy was jealous of Ginny relationship with Draco, even though they were simply just friends. The girl who drugged her was jealous of her and she was dying to have payback for not being able to remember her new year. All she needed was to devise a plan, that would have to involve Draco somehow, and she could have better payback than having Pansy try to figure out if Blaise knows the truth or not.

"What's on your mind? You look very deep in thought." Hermione pointed out and Ginny merely shrugged, saying it was really nothing. Hermione immediately crossed her arms. "What are you going to do? You don't need to do anything else to get under her skin, the whole school knows you two hate each other." Hermione demanded and Ginny nodded slowly.

"Course not." She replied offhandedly, waving it off as if it was nothing. Ginny didn't like lying to Hermione, but she didn't know that Pansy was the one who drugged her that night. Ginny didn't want to just tell her, especially because it's been well over a month. She needed to figure out who Pansy was on her own, meanwhile, Ginny would be devising a plan to make Pansy's head explode.

"Teenagers can be cruel and vicious, but they can also be very emotional and insecure." Hermione pointed out, obviously not completely believing her friend. "Ginny, this is a dangerous game you are playing." She warned and Ginny nodded her head, dropping the subject completely.

* * *

"I want to get Pansy back." Ginny said firmly two nights before the final task. She was sitting in the common room with Draco, bot h of them working on homework, one of them obviously working harder than the other. Ginny set down her quill and looked over to Draco and noticed that he was still working on his homework.

"Why am I not surprised." He said after a period of silence, not looking up from his work. Ginny huffed, not happy with his lack of enthusiasm. She was hoping for a little more support given what had happened.

"Don't you want to get her back for New Year's?" Ginny asked and that finally made Draco look up from his homework.

"It was naïve for you to go in the first place." He replied with simply and she crossed her arms. She took a deep breath and when he looked like he was going to return to his homework, she continued.

"I want to get her back and I'm going to need your help." Ginny explained to him, making him set down his quill and then proceed to close his book, his paper and quill holding his place.

"Ginny, I don't want to be involved in this stupid game of hers." Draco replied in a firm tone, recapping his bottle of ink and setting everything on the table in front of him. She made a girly sound and began to complain, but he wasn't listening to a thing she said. "Stop being such a girl." He said and she dropped her arms.

"I'm not Blaise. I am a girl." She said once again reminding him of what they both obviously knew.

"Well stop acting like one. It's bloody annoying." He responded with and she once again crossed her arms.

"Who's annoying?" Blaise asked as he walked into the common room, collapsing down on the chair next to their couch.

"I am." Ginny said and Blaise smirked.

"At least she admits it." He said and she rolled her eyes.

"Draco, at least hear my plan." She said to him and he sighed, looking over to Blaise and explaining that Ginny wanted to play some trick on Pansy that involved him. They then both looked at Ginny and she explained what she had in mind, although she hadn't expected to be explaining it with Blaise there. He laughed when she finished explaining it.

"That'll get her, I'm sure of it." He said while laughing heartily, making Ginny roll her eyes, but smile all the same. She looked over to Draco, who looked quite indecisive.

"I'd rather not be involved." Draco said, which immediately stopped Blaise from laughing, asking if he was really going to pass up an opportunity like this one. Ginny, however, did not wait for a response.

"You know what your problem is?" Ginny asked him and he laughed in a sarcastic manner.

"I don't have one, but I am sure you will tell me anyway." He said, before pointing to her as if it were her cue.

"You take yourself far too seriously!" She proclaimed and Blaise once again began laughing. Ginny told him to shut it, but it did not thing to stop him from laughing. "Look at him." She said pointing to Blaise, although not always the best example, he was on her side. "Lighten up, laugh a little." She suggested, to which Draco rolled his eyes.

"I have no problem. Completely light and whatnot." He said, waving it off making Ginny laugh in the same sarcastic manner, Blaise now watching the debate between the two of them in complete silence.

"You can laugh about it. She's a bitch and my plan is actually really good. I know it will get her back for everything she's pulled this year for me and I am sure you'd love to get her back for-" She was saying when he finally had enough.

"Alright, alright. So say I agree with this decent plan, when shall it take place?" He asked her, which was as good as a yes as she was going to get, making both her and Blaise let out a triumphant yell.

"After the second match. I would have to say a public setting would be best." She confessed, making Blaise clap his hands together.

"She has got some backbone if I do say so myself." Blaise said, making Draco take his eyes off of Ginny look over to Blaise. "I don't think we could think of anything really much better to get her name infamously known around the entire school." He admitted, making Ginny glow and forcing Draco to finally completely cave.

* * *

Ginny walked out of her History of Magic class, the last class of the week. Muggle studies was supposed to be tomorrow, but they cancelled it for the task to take place at noon. Hermione had apologized, saying she had to meet up with Pansy, before walking off towards the Great Hall with Cho Chang. Ginny was stabbed with a bit of jealousy, but before she could fully process it, her thoughts were interrupted.

"Hey, can I speak to you?" Dean Thomas asked, his friend Seamus walking off with Harry and Ron, the three of them animatedly discussing tomorrow's tournament.

"Yeah, okay." She said, following him as he led her out onto the school grounds, seemingly uncomfortable with the idea of being overheard by anyone. They idly chatted until they were down by the lake. "I supposed you didn't bring me all the way out here to chat." Ginny said with a small laugh and Dean nodded slowly.

"I just felt that you should know, in case it got out that is. I tried to tell her that she should confide in you, but she is nervous about telling anyone about it." Dean said, making Ginny stop walking and look at him completely befuddled.

"Who are we talking about and what should they be confiding in me?" She asked him when she didn't continue speaking and he sighed.

"It's about Hermione." He said and Ginny's eyes widened, waiting to hear what Dean had to tell her about her best friend and roommate. He knew something about her that Ginny didn't and that boggled her mind. "The thing is, we attended the same primary school." He explained slowly, but Ginny didn't exactly get what he was trying to tell her.

"Did something happen during those three years?" She asked him before another thought dawned on her. "Wait, you're muggleborn. How could Hermione have gone-" She stopped in midsentence and looked at Dean shocked. "No, that's not true, she said she is half blood." Ginny said, not believing what Dean had to say.

_It's our choice Justin. They never have to know if we choose it to be that way._

"She lied. Plenty of muggleborns do it now with the new school structure. To avoid prejudice and things like that." He explained to Ginny who nodded her head slowly. "You're her best friend and I have a feeling that you won't judge her for her blood status." He continued to elaborate, letting Ginny soak it all in.

"Of course I won't. So you told me in case word got out?" She asked him and he nodded.

"I figured it would be easier this way, then finding out with the rest of the school. She is popular and blood status can turn into a big thing, especially because now she is lying to a lot of people." He admitted and she nodded in complete agreement.

"I won't tell her you told me." She said and he immediately looked grateful.

"Good. I was really hoping that you wouldn't." He said with a laugh, before they returned to casual conversation as they made their way back up to the school.

* * *

Bang, Bang, Bang!

Ginny groaned in her sleep. "I'll be up in two minutes, mum." She muttered still half asleep. The banging continued, making her eyes pop open to realize that she was in her room at school and that it wasn't her mom banging on the door. She looked over to Hermione's bed to find that it was still very much empty.

Ginny had returned to their room last night and intended on talking to Hermione. As the night wore on, she decided to just let it go and be on Hermione's side if it ever came out. Still she waited for Hermione to return to the room and that is the last thing she remembered. She was currently laying on top of her bed, which was still made. She fell asleep waiting on Hermione.

The banging continued, leaving her to assume it was Draco and Blaise. The task was in a little more than hour after all. Ginny finally climbed out of bed, making her way to the door. She threw the door open and immediately was shocked to see Pansy, Daphne and other girls standing outside her door.

"Where is your roommate?" Pansy asked in a harsh tone upon realizing that Hermione was not in the room. Ginny looked at Pansy and instead of responding, she slammed the door in her face. It would be one thing if Draco or Blaise were trying to wake her up, but having Pansy banging on her door really ticked her off. Although it had raised a now much more important question.

Where is Hermione?

* * *

Ginny walked down to the lake with Draco, Blaise and Michael, the other three ran into Michael on their way out of the common room. It was pretty cold out and since the task involved the lake, she could only imagine how the Triwizard entrants must feel. They spent a lot of time trying to find the best seats that they could before the four of them finally sat down.

Once seated, Ginny then spent her time looking around for Hermione. A few rows over and quite a few in front of them was where Pansy and her friends were sitting. Hermione was not with them still. Ginny glanced through the crowd of students, her eyes landing on Harry, Ron, Dean, Seamus and Neville three row behind them. She didn't see her bushy haired friend with them either.

Ginny began to wonder if perhaps Hermione was with Krum, wishing him luck in the task. "No luck?" Michael asked her when he noticed that she was still looking through the crowd. She shook her head, but when the contestants approached the lake, she began her search again. She watched as the tournament began, but then scanned the crowd. If Hermione had been with Krum, she would be heading to the audience now.

After twenty minutes, Ginny was forced to accept that Hermione would not be attending the match. She looked back down by Pansy and then noticed something. Cho was missing from the line-up of girls. She smiled to herself, assuring herself that Hermione must be waiting for Krum.

"Cho is missing as well." Ginny pointed out to the boys, who were looking dreadfully bored. "They must be waiting for Cedric and Krum." She said to them and they nodded, not taking much interest. Ginny smiled quite content with herself when another thought dawned on her.

Why did she not know that Hermione was going to be with Krum? Surely Pansy would know that Hermione and Cho would be sitting in some warm tent waiting for their boyfriends to emerge from the lake. Why did neither of them know where they were this morning, although Ginny was much more concerned about Hermione's wellbeing.

"This is torture. The first task was wicked, but just sitting here is bloody mad." Blaise complained when the hour time limit was closing in.

"Hopefully the last one will give us something to actually watch." Draco added and Ginny nodded, realizing that she spent the entire task wondering where Hermione was, although she did not miss much at all.

"Look!" Michael shouted, pointing down to the lake. Several others around them looked towards the lake as well, the boredom in the air suddenly drifting away. There was a break in the steady water and then suddenly Cedric appeared at the surface, helping a Cho swim back towards the shoreline. The crowd cheered, none louder than Hogwarts students as the judges and Madame Pomfrey rushed down to the lake.

Hermione was not with Cho because Cho was the one thing that Cedric cared about most. Ginny began to worry again as the excitement of one contestant returning died away. Pansy laughed as she watched Cho and Cedric enter the tent.

"Poor bloke. When the professors chose her as the most important thing to him, they apparently didn't know that she broke up with him yesterday." She said, making the girls around her laugh and Ginny immediately felt horrible for Cedric. She wondered why Cho broke up with him, when they seemed like such a happy couple. She was also quite thrilled that Cho was dating someone besides Harry.

Another thought dawned on her. If Cho had been taken hostage for Cedric to complete the task, then perhaps Hermione had been taken as Krum's most valuable thing. At that moment, the water broke again and Krum appeared with Hermione at his side, swimming to the shoreline and ending the task. This surprised Ginny, who had been completely zoned out when Fleur had been forced to retire from the task.

The audience began to get up and leave the lake, heading back up to the castle. Blaise had disappeared with Michael, leaving Ginny and Draco still sitting in their seats. They glanced at one another, before looking down to Pansy and her friends. They were talking and waiting for Hermione apparently as she was heading over to them.

"The best time would be when they get up to leave, right?" Ginny asked, suddenly feeling nerves kick in her stomach.

"Yeah, they'll have to walk right passed us." He said in a low voice as there were still several students around, not to many rushing back to the castle now that they all had gotten used to the cold. They were all talking to each other, while Ginny and Draco watched Hermione approach Pansy and her friends. They said a public setting would be best and it would be quite public.

Hermione reached her friends and they all began to giggle as she walked up. They began to talk about how romantic it was and a bunch of stuff that made Draco roll his eyes. Hermione suggested that they head back up to the castle and the other girls immediately agreed. Ginny looked over to Draco.

"Now is as good of time as any." She said quickly and he nodded his head. With two days of planning's notice, Draco leaned closer to Ginny. She could hear the girls getting out of their seats and knew they would be turning in their direction any moment. She quickly closed the gap between her and Draco, claiming his lips with her own.

Yes, her plan had been to snog Draco right in public view for Pansy to see. She wanted to make Pansy's head explode with jealousy right in front of a crowd of students, who would tell their friends what they saw. Draco and Ginny would easily be known as Pansy's greatest enemies as fast as gossip could travel through a school. In no time at all.

The only problem was, before Ginny could hear Pansy's reaction, she heard something else. In mid-snog with Draco, she heard a male voice yell out that sent chills down her spine.

"Bloody hell! That's my sister!" Ron's voice echoed, making Ginny and Draco immediately separate. Ginny closed her eyes and put her face in her hands, not wanting to look at the crowd of people around her. She had simply forgotten that Ron was only three rows behind her and was very much not a fan of Draco.

"That worked well." Draco muttered to Ginny. Pansy's face was shocked and horrified alright and she looked ready to explode. However, no one noticed because all of them were looking at Ginny's red faced brother.

Having backbone is nothing if you have no foresight to everything that can happen.


	7. What The Hell

**A/N:**** The song is What The Hell, by Avril. I own nothing. I think that's it.**

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

The repercussion of Ginny and Draco snogging had taken effect right away. Pansy was indeed distressed to the point where she actually began to leave Ginny alone and most of the school now did indeed knows Ginny Weasley. She made quite a name for herself, yet the two positive effects had their own negative effects.

While Pansy was leaving Ginny alone, Ron was refusing to speak to Ginny. After his outburst, he stormed away, followed by his friends. Despite the efforts that she made, he was still refusing to speak to her. Also, although the school knew who she was, most of the students wanted to talk about how they all think her and Draco are a couple.

They clearly had not thought that part through enough, but they dealt with it as best as they could. They denied the rumors but by no means ended their friendship to end the rumors. Although, Hermione had been quite curious about Ginny and Draco's relationship.

"So are you and Draco a thing now?" Hermione had asked Ginny later that night after the task. Ginny had suddenly been hit with a bit of guilt because she had told Hermione that she wouldn't start anything with Pansy.

"I did it to get at Pansy and I'm not sorry I did it." Ginny explained adamantly, but Hermione said nothing. "She's left me alone since then, so obviously I did something right."

"Who am I to say what you did is wrong. You are my best friend and Pansy is merely a friend. I will take your side, know that." Hermione confided to the red head, making her smile. "So is anything going on between you two?" She asked once again and this time Ginny shook her head.

"It was just an act and we are only friends." She confessed to Hermione, before quickly adding. "By no means was he a bad kisser, because he was definitely an amazing first kiss, but were only firmly friends." Ginny finished with, confessing that Draco was her first kiss, just neglecting to mention her first kiss was much less amazing. Although, both kisses had been her doing and her idea completely.

Ginny then wondered to herself again for a while about if she could possibly have feelings for Draco. He was her best friend after all, she so obviously liked him, but to what extent? Obviously he was attractive, but was he her type of attractive, especially since his and Harry's features were entirely opposite from one another. She would even say that Blaise was attractive, but he was only a friend too, right? She couldn't possibly like all of them could she?

No, of course not.

Her minded lingered back to Draco. She really did enjoy the time they spent together and she really never spent time alone with Harry or Blaise. It obviously didn't mean that she liked him more than the others, or maybe she did. Draco had so quickly become a best friend to her. Despite the fact that he didn't like to talk about certain things, they were truly very close.

A lot of people didn't understand how they could be so close, but a lot of people didn't like Draco. Blaise said Draco was close to Pansy and Daphne, but never as close as he is to Ginny. Draco said it's because she isn't as annoyingly girly as they are, which is why he'll occasionally tell her to stop being so girly.

Then Ginny realized that if she really thought about it, she could end up developing feelings for Draco. If she began thinking about all the things she liked about him, she would began to like him and she simply could not develop feelings for Draco. She absolutely refused to have a crush on her best friend, especially when she was made fun of for her crush on Harry in primary school.

"You should come stay at my house this weekend." Hermione suggested while they ate breakfast. Ginny rudely stared at Hermione for longer than she should have given that she wasn't supposed to know that Hermione was muggleborn. "Or not." She said slightly offended, but Ginny quickly shook her head.

"Sorry. Zoned out." Ginny recovered with quickly. "I'd love to." She said with a smile, although she officially realized that Hermione never spoke of her family. Obviously she never talked about her blood status, but she never mentioned anything about her parents or any siblings.

"Good, because I already asked my parents." Hermione said with a smile, which was good since they would be leaving Friday morning and it was already Wednesday.

"I'll have to write mine now." Ginny said and they quickly finished breakfast so they could rush up to owlery. As they made their way out onto the chilly grounds Ginny finally brought up family to Hermione. "So I just realized we've always spent so much time talking about my family, we've never talked about yours." Ginny said to casually bring about the conversation, making Hermione nod slowly.

"Because it's not nearly as exciting as your family." Hermione confessed, but Ginny couldn't help but think about how much her dad would want to meet her parents. "My parents are married and they work a lot of the time. I have a younger sister, Emma, who is thirteen." Hermione explained and Ginny looked at Hermione interestingly. She had a sister, that no one knew about.

"So she'll be going here next year?" Ginny asked Hermione , realizing that she could be a third year at Hermione's muggleborn school.

"It's not that simple." Hermione said slowly. Or she could just not have gotten magical powers like Hermione. Perhaps she was muggle just like her parents. Harry's mom, Lily, has an older sister who is just a muggle. Ginny has never met her or her family, but she has heard about them. James never has nice things to say about them, unless its sarcastic, but Lily never had a bad word to say about her sister.

Lilly never has a bad thing to say about anyone. But she will get the smile on her face that tells you she is thinking a bad thing about someone.

"How?" Ginny asked, all she could think of getting out without giving herself away. She really wanted to just tell Hermione that she knew, but she would have to tell her where she learned it from and she wasn't going to get Dean in trouble for looking out for his primary school classmate.

"I can't explain everything here. It's a long story." Hermione said, her eyes staring straight ahead, but looking at nothing. Ginny realized then that her eyes had sort of a glassy look. "My parents work on Fridays, so when we get there they won't be home. We can floo out after lunch, no reason to wake up early." She said blinking her eyes a few times and then finally looking at Ginny with her usual Hermione smile. Ginny swallowed the horrible feeling she got for a moment and then nodded her head with a smile.

* * *

After lunch on Friday, Ginny and Hermione headed to Professor Dumbledore's office, their school bags over their shoulders. There were a couple students ahead of them for the lunch rush, but other than that they were off right away. They appeared in Hermione's house and the older girl released Crookshanks.

Other than her cat running off, Ginny had immediately noticed that nothing else in the house moved. It was quiet, still and completely dead and lifeless. Hermione was looking at Ginny, waiting to see her reaction.

"It's so quiet." Ginny confessed and Hermione nodded, before leaning onto the arm of the couch.

"I haven't been completely honest with you." Hermione said, making Ginny look over at her. "In case you haven't noticed, I am muggleborn. No one in my family has ever had any type of magic. My parents are dentists." She confessed quickly to Ginny, who smiled, happy that Hermione finally told her so she could stop pretending she didn't know.

"We should have a family get together at my house sometime. I would so be my dad's favorite if I brought home muggles. Especially ones who already know about the wizarding world." Ginny said with a smile, which made Hermione break out into a smile. "Well show me around." Ginny demanded in a laughing way and Hermione nodded, taking her around the house and showing off her room before she finally ended up in front of the door next to her room.

There was a pink lettered plaque that wrote out 'Emma' across the door. Hermione said that she used to have one, but she had gotten rid of it a long time ago. Ginny was just surprised that they made one with her name. Hermione hesitated for a moment, before opening the door and letting it fall open as if she held it too long it would burn her hand.

Ginny looked around the room and noticed that it was very neat, much like Hermione's everything. Not a thing was out of place as if it was all just there for decoration. Like none of it was touched for quite some time. She was going to say that Emma must be as clean and organized as her older sister when she noticed a small layer of dust on a lot of the stuff in the room.

Ginny turned to look at Hermione, wondering what was going on, but feet a sickening feeling in her stomach. Something was simply not right about this and she knew this for sure when she looked at Hermione. She was staring at the ceiling and not making eye contact, her eyes had a glassy look, before a tear finally slid down her cheek.

"It's not the simple because my sister was abducted when she was nine." She said, taking deep breaths. "She could have shown signs of magic like I did, but tried to hide it because I was always picked on. I don't know if she would have gotten her letter and nothing in my house has been the same."

"She was taken? Just like that? That's horrible." Ginny said in shock and Hermione sighed.

"I was eleven when it happened. The summer before I started school." She confessed, before reaching forward and closing the door. "We don't really talk about it. We've had no news on what happened to her after all this time." She finished with before telling Ginny that they can go find something to make for their dinner later after she regained herself a bit. Her parents won't be home for quite a few hours since they haven't had a reason to be home for dinner in a few years.

Ginny lingered for a moment, glancing around the room. She wondered what lead to her being taken, picturing what she would look like and wondering if she would get along with Eura next year. It wasn't until Ginny could hear Hermione call her from downstairs that she finally left the room, shutting the door behind her.

* * *

The two girls had ended up making dinner for themselves and Hermione's parents. They had the dinner ready by the time her parents were home and they were all able to sit down and enjoy a relaxing meal. They even volunteered to do the dishes so Hermione could show Ginny the television that she had been so interested in.

Ginny could immediately tell that Hermione's parents are loving but strict perfectionists. They expect the best out of their daughter and Hermione strives to meet their expectations, especially with her sister gone. Hermione said that her parents' marriage had become weaker since her sister had been taken, but they were doing better now. Time heals all wounds, but closure is a nice thing as well. After all this time, of course they want Emma back, but closure would be a considerate.

The next day, Hayley and Maxwell Granger took Hermione and Ginny to spend the day at the zoo. Ginny had a blast since she had never been to a muggle zoo before. When they got home, they all showered and cleaned up. They dressed up in extremely nice clothes and went out to a very nice muggle restaurant.

After they stopped at a different place to get dessert on the way home, they put a movie in the television. They all changed into their pajamas and made some popcorn, spending the rest of the evening watching movies until they realized that it was well past midnight.

Hermione said they used to find stuff to do every Saturday or Sunday when Emma was still around. Since their parents were so busy with work, Hermione usually was Emma's caretaker, while the neighbors had children their age, so they would also keep an eye on them as well. Their parents would get home later in the evening, after Hermione would be getting Emma showered and in her pajamas. Her mom would whip up dinner real quick and they would sit down to a nice dinner, before some TV and then bed.

However, on one of the two days their parents were off, they spend the whole day together. They would make a big deal about it and they would spend all week planning what they would do that one day.

Hermione said it was weird for them to be this happy again, but she by no means regretted having a day trip like they used to.

* * *

Ginny and Hermione returned to the school after her mother made an amazing breakfast. They ate it out on the patio and they said they would be delighted to have Ginny back again anytime. She offered up the idea to have a families dinner, saying her mom loves to cook for big groups. They said that it would great and that they are used to mail by owls now, so if Mrs. Weasley wishes to contact them, they will know how to respond.

They had run into Pansy and her friends almost immediately and Ginny even offered to take Hermione's bag back to her room. When she dropped their school bags off, she ran into Harry, who was, for once, without Ron. He had his broom in hand and was heading out of the common room.

"Where do you think you are going?" Ginny asked him and he stopped short and turned around. He smiled when he seen her.

"We'll grab you a broom and I'll teach you all my secret seeker skills." He said and Ginny laughed before catching up to him and walking out of the common room. They chatted a bit as they headed out towards the Quidditch pitch that had been untouched all year. They grabbed the best school broom they could find and they took off.

They spent the following hours flying around chasing Harry's snitch. When it was still daylight, but the sun was disappearing behind the trees, they made their way back to the ground and put the school broom away. They began to head back up to the school, Harry complimenting Ginny on her flying skills.

"Ron gave me the impression that you've never flown before." He said and she had a slight smirk on her lips.

"Well he doesn't know everything. Where is he anyway?" She asked him, knowing he had to be back because they had already seen the twins. The three of them had returned to the burrow, while Ginny had gone to Hermione's house.

"We had a bit of a falling out." Harry admitted and Ginny looked at him impressed.

"You and Ron had a falling out? I would think you two were in love if you didn't have a thing for Cho." Ginny said before she realized that she was rambling and turned a light shade of pink, before recollecting herself and maintaining control of what she said. However, Harry quickly jumped in, obviously uncomfortable with the conversation.

"Yeah well, Hermione and I have been supporting Krum, as well as supporting Cedric. Krum as Hermione's, er, boyfriend and Cedric as our school's champion. Ron isn't too fond of Krum." He said cautiously and Ginny laughed.

"I think he made it quite clear at the cup how big of a fan he is of Krum." Ginny said, laughter still in her voice.

"Yeah well, I think he is jealous of the attention Krum gets from Hermione. Honestly, that girl juggles so many circles of friends, I don't even know when she sees Krum." Harry said laughing a bit at the end and Ginny completely agreed.

"So how was your trip home?" Ginny asked him as they reached the castle. The hallways were mostly empty as most of the students were done at dinner. The two of them decided to get cleaned up real quick before heading down to dinner since they still had plenty of time.

"Parents are good. Sirius stopped by, says he was hoping I brought the Weasley's with me again." Harry said with a laugh and Ginny couldn't help but smile. Last Christmas Harry and Eura brought Ron, Ginny and the twins home for break. Sirius and James had a blast with the guys and Lily had told Ginny she had the right spirit for them.

Ginny opened her mouth to tell him about her planning to have her parents meet Hermione's parents. She then realized if she were to invite Harry and his parents, not only would the whole Weasley family know she is muggleborn, but so would Harry. Not that Harry would tell anyone, but she wasn't exactly sure how Hermione felt about it.

"We'll have to get together over Easter holiday or something." Ginny suggested and he nodded. "How is Eura?" Ginny asked, thinking of how strange Harry's sister had been acting at the train station back in September.

"She's, well I'm not too sure to be honest." Harry admitted and Ginny looked at him interested. "Well she snuck out Friday and Saturday in the middle of the night. I'm guessing she snuck off to some parties, but she is only thirteen."

"We're only fourteen and look what happens at our parties." Ginny said and Harry looked at her.

"I heard. Are you okay?" He asked as if he had been dying for it to come up so he could ask her about it. His voice sounded worried, which made Ginny smile to know that he did care, despite the fact that they didn't share the same feelings. It also happened a good three months ago, which annoyed her a bit that he only said something now.

"Yeah, I'm fine. We are discussing your sister now." She said because although she appreciated his concern, she'd still rather not talk about it.

"Well, I honestly don't care if she is one year or five years younger, I don't like that she is sneaking out in the middle of the night. However, that did not stop me from covering for her when she was almost busted Sunday morning." Harry said in a somewhat solemn manner.

"At least she knows she can trust you." Ginny said to try and comfort him.

"My parents have gotten calls from the school. She's stopped eating for days at a time and they've had to send her to St. Mungo's four times this year so far." Harry said and Ginny stopped walking right outside the dorms.

"What?" Ginny asked in complete shock. She knew that Eura had sort of been drifting off lately, but she didn't know how bad it was really getting until now.

"I think I'm blind to how bad she is getting. I just can't see anything other than my little sister." Harry admitted and Ginny looked down and sighed.

"I wish Ron would be that blind to me." Ginny confessed and Harry laughed a bit.

"Yeah well, he hears something about you and he flips out. I say he has all his senses finally tuned whenever he hears your name." Harry said and Ginny nodded.

"Yeah, well Eura will be here next year. She'll be under your watchful eye and I'll always be there for her." Ginny said and Harry nodded with smile, thanking her for offering to help him out with Eura next year.

* * *

Ginny sat down next to Shauna in the Great Hall during dinner. They spent some time talking and caught up a little bit more than they did at the lock in. When dessert appeared, Ginny figured it would be a good idea to mention what her, Draco and Blaise were planning.

"They run the school and we're supposed to just sit here and take it?" Ginny asked and Shauna laughed.

"Is that what you do when you're with Draco Malfoy?" Shauna asked and Ginny rolled her eyes.

"I'm friends with them and I want you by my side when we do this." Ginny said with a confident smile and Shauna nodded. They were childhood friends after all since they grew up near each other.

"Alright, what the hell. Someone needs to remind all of those popular kids that not everything is going to go their way." She said before she did even one better by introducing Ginny to some of her like-minded friends from her year and house.

Cali Malay is Shauna's best friend and even more eager about the whole idea. She has the same wild hair that Hermione has, only a darker color and she keeps it less well kept than Hermione keeps her bushy hair. Shauna then properly introduced Ginny to Millicent Bullstrode, who Ginny previously met on the train to school.

Shauna told her to watch out for Millicent though because she feels like she never measures up to the other girls. She can be rotten and she makes excuses for her bad behavior because she feels that she is entitled. She even used to be friends with Pansy, but it obviously had not worked out in her favor. She has everything except the perfect body and she feels that everyone else should pay for that.

Shauna even introduced her to some of the guys in her year. Terry Boot, Dylan Reilly, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. The latter two know Draco and Blaise so it wasn't hard to convince the four of them to the idea. That and Dylan mentioned seeing Ginny at the Yule Ball and guys all say they remembered seeing her.

* * *

"Well if it isn't the girl who locked lips with Draco Malfoy." Holden said as Ginny walked up to Holden and his friends during lunch.

"Holden, always a charmer. Cameron." She said to each of them and they nodded at her. She sat down and was about to explain to him what her plan was when he cut her off.

"I ran into Shauna this morning." Holden said and Ginny nodded, before clapping her hands together. "Sounds pretty cool actually. I mean, we don't really have to do anything do we? Just say we're rebels and dislike the popular kids, right?" He said with a laugh and Ginny rolled her eyes.

"It's about standing for something, but yeah that is basically it." She said to him and he nodded his head to showed that he approved, Cameron agreeing as well.

Ginny was then introduced to Marley Anderson, Luke Finley and Talon Evans. The latter two guys were just as eager as the other two were, mostly glad that it wouldn't involve extra work for them. Marley, on the other hand, was a different story.

"Hey, I am a part of that crowd you know." The black haired boy informed her and she shrugged.

"Well so is Blaise, and two of my older brothers. Not to mention my best friend." Ginny said and the other guys nodded. "I don't hate people who associate with them as well long as they don't think as one person." She explained to him and he nodded his head.

"Yeah, alright I guess that makes sense." He admitted and then he chuckled. "You do seem to have a bit more backbone that Pansy." He confirmed and Ginny smiled triumphantly.

"We will get along just fine, as long as you don't piss me off. I'm not one to be angered." She said the end in a low tone, before smiling brightly, making the guys look at her for a second, before laughing. She then excused herself and made her way over to Evelyn, who was sitting with short, brown hair and hazel eyes.

"Hey Lyn." Ginny said as she walked up to the two of them, sitting down next to her old school friend.

"I was wondering when you would make your way to me. I'm friends with Dylan from Shauna's house, as if she didn't tell me herself." She said with a smile and Ginny was for once thankful for how fast new traveled.

"So I'm guessing that you're in?" Ginny asked in a hopeful way and Evelyn nodded.

"This is Louise." She said in response, introducing her friend.

"Moxie." Her friend said in retaliation and Ginny smiled.

"This is Louise Moxie, who prefers to be known by her surname." Evelyn said to correct herself and Ginny nodded her head sympathetically.

"I know how you feel. She called me Ginevra for a good year." Ginny confessed, sending a sour look in Evelyn's direction, who sent her a warning look.

"How did you get her to stop?" Moxie asked and Ginny smiled in a defiant way.

"She hates the nickname Eve." Ginny confessed, pronounced like 'E-V' and Evelyn threw her hands up.

"Thanks_ Ginevra_." Evelyn said and Ginny smiled back at her. Moxie seemed really happy with this news, while four other girls walked up to the three of them. They said they were interested in what Ginny was talking about and when they left Moxie explained that they weren't popular, but they also never really got along with her and Eve.

* * *

Ginny sat in the common room, scribbling in her diary. She was normally quite bad at remembering a person's name, but she really needed to remember who she was talking to now. She had a separate page for each person, leaving front and back free for the person. She could record down their appearances, as well as their likes and dislikes.

The good thing about magical diaries is that blank pages will keep appearing in the back. Ginny tossed her old one and had gotten a brand new one just for Hogwarts. Her first entry was the night before they left and about all of her anticipation. The second was after reaching Hogwarts and learning that not everything is going to happen how she wants it to happen.

While she was writing in the book, one of the common room dorms opened, making her quickly shut the book. It was getting pretty late and most students had returned to their rooms by now. She had been sure that she wouldn't have been bothered. However, it had been Draco and Blaise emerging from their room.

"What are you still doing up?" Draco asked as the two of them walked into the common room.

"Planning my take over. The question is where you two are going?" She asked them and Blaise smirked.

"My birthday is on a Wednesday, so we're drinking tonight." He said and Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Like you two need to wander off and drink. You'll get busted." Ginny said and Blaise simply shrugged.

"Do you have a better idea?" He asked her and she pondered the thought for a moment, before saying she might actually have a better idea, before getting up from her seat. She waved her wand, making her diary disappear, assumingly going back to her room. She then proceeded up to one of the dorm rooms, making Draco and Blaise exchange looks.

It was Harry and Ron's dorm that she was poking her head into after knocking on it. She didn't go into the room, but she presumably talked to someone because she came walking back over to them, carrying some sort of fabric in her hands.

"Harry has an invisibility cloak." She said with a smirk, making the two guys exchange look once again.

"He just lends it out to anyone?" Draco asked skeptically and Ginny shook her head.

"I'm not just anyone. Besides, I was only able to get it from him because Ron was sleeping. He would have thrown a fit." Ginny said, although she felt a pang of guilt. She knew Harry wouldn't say no because he never stopped his sister from sneaking out. He always said that Ginny was like a sister to him and he apparently has a soft spot for sister-figures. Eura, Ginny and Hermione.

"What if he was awake?" Blaise asked in an interested manner.

"Well, I guess you're not the only one risking things tonight." She said with a smirk and he rolled his eyes, before permitting her to go with them, making Draco laugh. Ginny ran up to her room to grab her cloak and met them back in the common room.

"He was so fixed on guys night tonight." Draco said with a roll of his eyes. "Looks like you earned it." He said before the three of them disappeared under the cloak.

* * *

The three of them sat out by the lake for a couple hours, drinking a bottle of firewhiskey. They sat looking out onto the lake with the backs against the trunk of a big tree so they would be less visible if someone, like a professor, were to look out a window and onto the grounds. It was also a plus that firewhiskey came along with a nice warming sensation so it didn't feel as cold outside as it really was for being March in the middle of the night.

"So your brother seems to still hate you." Blaise pointed out when they hit a period of silence.

"Ah yes his hate, it grows stronger every day." Ginny confessed, taking a quick drink at the thought of it. "Pansy has not said one word to me since, so I still label it a winning situation. Ron will get over it eventually." Ginny admitted to them and they nodded.

"Pansy will never give up. She may take time off, but she will never give up if her mind is set on something." Draco explained and Ginny nodded her head, while rolling her eyes.

"I know this. She will never give up and I am pretty sure we've learned that I won't give up either." Ginny said wondering if they would ever come to accept that fact. Both Draco and Blaise merely shrugged as they usually did when they saw no reason to continue fighting something against her.

"Well she has been doing a good job gathering compatible friends." Blaise pointed out with a laugh and Draco nodded his head.

"What Ginny should be doing in is swooping in on Daphne while Pansy is mad at her." Draco said, making both Blaise and Ginny laugh. "Alright, maybe I'll talk to her." He caved and Blaise nodded his head, agreeing with Draco's new idea.

"Daphne would jump in the lake before she would be friends with Ginny over Pansy." Blaise said and Ginny pointed at the lake nodding her head.

"I would jump in the lake before I would be friends with Daphne." Ginny said firmly and the guys laughed.

"Well do it then." Blaise said encouraging her. She grabs the bottle from him and takes another drink.

"Alright, let's do it." She said to him, then looking at Draco.

"I was only kidding, Weasley." Blaise said and Ginny shook her head, handing him the bottle.

"You just realized I'm going to make you two do it with me and your chickening out. Stop being a drag, take a drink and jump in the lake." She said to him and he looked at Draco. Blaise smirked, before grabbing the bottle.

"Bloody hell. Malfoy don't you dare think you're getting out of this." He said after he took a drink, handing the bottle to Draco as Ginny tossed her cloak down.

"I am not going in there." Draco said, shaking his head in a disapproving manner. Ginny grabbed the bottle from his hands.

"Cowards." She said, taking another drink from the bottle and handing it back to him. Without any other warning, she ran for the lake, jumping off the small ledge. There was a small splash and a few moments later she yelled up at them.

"Bloody hell Draco, how did you find a girl this down-to-earth, yet entirely crazy, cool girl. Most of all how did you get her to be your friend." Blaise said, taking another drink and tossing his cloak down when he stood up.

"Hey I used to be cool." Draco defended with, making Blaise laugh before telling him to hurry up. Blaise then ran forward and jumped into the lake, letting out a yell because it was practically freezing cold. "This is completely ridiculous." Draco said in a disdainful tone, before standing up and tossing down his cloak. He proceeded to finish the bottle, before following the other two into the lake.

* * *

Pansy stood staring at the four girls that pulled her away from her group of friends. They said they had important news to tell her so she begrudgingly went along. However, once they told her that Ginny Weasley was gathering friends to become the opposition for Pansy. She simply could not have that.

"Find Daphne and bring her to me." Pansy said in bossy tone to the four girls in front of her. They looked at her unsure for a moment since it was well known that the two of them were not talking. Pansy gave them a much more stern look and they took off running.

There was no way she was going to leave Daphne open to be intercepted by Ginny. She would reconcile their friendship to keep her away from Ginny. Daphne was her best friend and she refused to let anything risk her losing her best friend. No stupid fight would be worth having Daphne on the other side.

_All my life I've been good but now_

_I'm thinking, what the hell_

_All I want is to mess around_

_And I don't really care about_

_If you love me, if you hate me_

_You can't save me, baby, baby_

_All my life I've been good but now_

_Whoa, what the hell?_


	8. Me Against The World

**Chapter Eight** **April**

_We're not gonna let them control us_

_We won't let them shove_

_All their thoughts in our heads_

_And we'll never be like them_

_I've got no place to go_

_I've got nowhere to run_

_They love to watch me fall_

_They think they know it all_

-Simple Plan

It was happening and it was happening far faster than anyone had imagined. The month of April brought the knowledge that Pansy is not the only queen on the rise. Ginny really didn't want to be known as a queen on the rise, but Draco and Blaise reminded her that everyone already knows that she runs in a different crowd. Now they know that she really does have her own crowd and that by no means is Pansy any better than her.

Shauna, Holden and Evelyn have by far proved the power of actual friendship. They approved of Ginny and what she would be standing for, getting all their likeminded friends to begin supporting Ginny. Faster than Ginny, Draco or Blaise could have guessed, she had friends in older years as well. Students in older years have a longer reputation and have been under the Parkinson reign for longer.

Draco and Ginny quickly found that their circle of friends had expanded greatly. Draco found that he was spending more time with older students like Nott, McLaggen, Montague and Pucey more and more often, Pansy growing more frustrated when Blaise was starting to spend even more time with Draco.

Holden and Michael got along rather well with Draco, which made Ginny happy. It meant that she wasn't the only one making friends with all of this. Draco and Blaise were now so often seen with Holden, which usually included Cameron, and Michael that they were forming their own subgroup within the group.

Ginny couldn't say too much about them now that she was spending a lot of her time with Shauna, Cali, Moxie and Evelyn. The five of them got along amazingly and they were always seen in the corridors together. She was also paying close attention to all of them, learning what she could so she could easily remember their likes and dislikes.

Holden fits in quite well with Draco and Blaise. He is sarcastic, witty and can be very friendly, but he is completely good natured and has a very well working moral compass. They also get along with Cameron pretty well, but both Draco and Blaise refer to him as mostly an extra body. He is a lot like Blaise's quieter side, where he keeps to himself and tends to be a bit of a loner. The main difference is, while Blaise has another side with a sarcastic edge, Cameron seems to be always the quiet one.

Evelyn loves Quidditch and was upset and outraged when she was informed that Quidditch would not be happening this year. She is very smart, as well as quite proper and well-mannered. Moxie is a lot like Evelyn, at least athletic and academic wise. Moxie is muggleborn and although she doesn't deny it, she doesn't go around telling everyone. She was always very good at muggle sports and excelled at Quidditch when it was taught to them at her muggleborn primary school. Ginny assumed that Moxie went to the same school as Hermione and Dean, never knowing if there was more than one muggleborn school.

Shauna will do anything for her family and her friends, the people she cares about. She is funny and bold, which is probably one of the reasons Ginny gets along with her brilliantly. Shauna had tried to enter the tournament with a simple aging potion, much like Fred and George, while she simply laughed her way to the infirmary when she was covered in a long, white beard. She is also the stylish one, not wanting any of them to lose their edge, but making sure they look good as well.

Cali, on the other hand, is more of the artsy type. She is a writer, with a skill in drawing and even some singing. She tends to live more through Shauna, saying she will one day make a great character in a story of hers. Cali, much like Ginny, is always writing stuff down. She would draw on spare bits of parchment or making up a quick short-story to amuse her friends.

Then there was Michael, who was generally more laid-back than the others with a mostly nonchalant attitude. Although he is quite rebellious, Ginny thinks it because he is more prone to depression than the others. When he was ten, he had walked into the room right as his father used the killing curse on his mother. He was Ginny's first friend in primary and she's always helped him back up when he was down. Although, more so since he asked her to the Yule Ball, feelings between the two have grown. In fact, they had plans to go to Hogsmede together as soon as there was a scheduled visit day.

However, the biggest flaw in the plan was Ron, who was now straight out refusing to speak to Ginny most days. At first it had been just about Ginny's public display with Draco, but now she was starting to think that it was more. Perhaps it was her group of friends because he never really liked any of the students she is friends with, despite the fact that he used to get along relatively well with Michael.

It's not like Ginny never tried to talk to him about it, they would just end up in another row. Which is how she ended up playing a quickly thrown together Quidditch game with her friends. She had stormed over to the other girls in the Great Hall after her and Ron had gotten into and dispute in their common room after last class.

Tomorrow was a Friday, but students would be returning home for Easter Holiday. A glorious week and a couple days without having to worry about class. However, Ginny was going home to spend the holiday with her family, which included Ron. Despite their fighting, Ginny was still standing her ground on her choices. Shauna said that Ginny is truly strong to be firmly standing behind her choices and then suggested they play a quick Quidditch game before dusk to ease tensions.

Although the days were getting longer, it seemed the game ended way too fast. Before Ginny knew it, they were heading back up to the castle since they were not supposed to be on the grounds after nightfall. Since it was still early enough in the evening, students were still seen around the school. The group made their way to one of the courtyards, making themselves comfortable by their tree near the courtyard wall.

Ginny and Shauna sat with their backs against the tree trunk, the others scattered around the tree, some sitting on the stone window ledge. Blaise was above Ginny, sitting on a thick tree branch, his back against the trunk and one of his legs hanging down. Draco and Michael had left the group right after the game, having detention with McGonagall.

"You've got detention?" Ginny had asked Draco shocked when he and Michael went to separate from the group.

"Believe it or not, you're not the only person you're brother fights with nowadays." Draco said as the two of them walked off. As Blaise had explained it, Ron had confronted Draco full on the day before. Michael had somehow ended up in the middle of it when McGonagall broke them out from the duel that had obviously taken place. The three of them were given detention and McGonagall was not happy about giving out three detentions to her own house just before break.

So when curfew was quickly approaching and McGonagall told them all to get back to their dormitories, they did not test her. They said good night once they reached the fourth floor as Ginny would see most of them on the train the next morning. Ginny and Blaise heading into McGonagall's dormitories before heading into their own common room.

The fire lit itself as soon as they walked into the common room as it had been empty before they walked in. Most of their dorm mates were busy packing and getting to bed early since they had a long trip in the morning. Ginny made her way down to one of the couches, collapsing down and staring up at the ceiling.

"I really don't want to go home." Ginny complained as Blaise took a seat in a chair closet to the fire.

"Yeah, well neither do I." Blaise admitted, making Ginny drop her head to the side to look at him. "Step-father's funeral is on Saturday." Blaise confessed and Ginny lifted her head up a bit.

"No offence, but that timed out perfectly with your school and break schedule." Ginny pointed out to him and he smirked.

"Strange coincidence." He remarked casually, before he continued speaking so she couldn't inquire more about it. "No matter. There is always an after party where everyone drinks far more than they should. I will be spending the evening sneaking firewhiskey into my room with Draco." He explained and Ginny laid her head back down.

"Draco will be there?" Ginny asked, assuming that he would be staying at school all of Easter holiday. Perhaps he would be staying at Blaise's for break, he never really talked about break unless it was asking what Ginny's plans were for break.

"Well his parents are close with my mother, so they will be attending the funeral and party. Since he is going home for break, he'll definitely want to be at this funeral." Blaise said with a short laugh at the end.

"Draco is going home?" Ginny asked him surprised.

"You can't avoid you're parents forever." He replied with simply and Ginny let out a small huff.

"I wouldn't know because he doesn't say anything around me about his family." Ginny said, rolling her eyes and looking back at the ceiling.

"Yeah, well he had his reasons." Blaise said simply, making Ginny quickly sit up on the couch.

"Well, we all have our reasons for everything. I'd say I've been rather tolerant given the fact that he knows so much about me and I pretty much have no idea who his is at all." Ginny snapped at him and he simply nodded his head.

"You have been tolerant and patient, a truly great friend to Draco for reasons that no one can understand." He said to her and she let out another huff, leaning back into the couch and crossing her arms. "Look, it's not my place to tell you anything and that is what the whole problem is. It wasn't Pansy's place to say anything and she opened her mouth. Daphne took her side and that is why he can't stand Pansy. She ruined everything because she can't keep her mouth shut." Blaise explained, but refused to explain it any further than that.

"I shouldn't have to pay for her mistakes." Ginny complained and Blaise simply shrugged.

"You are absolutely right. You shouldn't be suffering retribution for her mistakes." He said and Ginny looked at him interested, as if he would tell her the secret to get Draco to open up. "You should just stop being his friend now so you stop paying for her mistakes." Blaise finished with and Ginny looked at him appalled.

"I'm not going to end my friendship with him over something that happened in his past." She defended herself with quickly, which made Blaise smirk and lean back into his chair, his arms crossed in a dignified manner.

"Then don't end it and don't complain that he doesn't confide in you. Eventually, when he rebuilds enough pride again, maybe he will tell you. Or maybe it will just come out one day." He said and Ginny looked at him, smiling a little bit. "The point is, stop complaining about it because it's blooding annoying." He finished with firmly and Ginny broke out into a full smile, before laughing, making Blaise laugh a bit as well.

* * *

Break had been unbearable long and dull. Ron and Ginny were still not speaking, despite being forced to be together. The more they were around each other, the more they lashed out at one another. Fred and George tried to diffuse the tension all break, but it only worked when they talked to Ron and Ginny separately.

Molly had tried speaking to her youngest children, but they both firmly stood their ground. Ron had gotten to Molly before Ginny had, telling their mother how horrible all of Ginny's friends were. He even went as far to blame the fact that he had gotten detention all on Draco. Although Fred and George had witnessed the fight as said Ron had started the argument, Draco had been the one to pull out his wand first. Even though Ron had shot off the first spell, Molly still agreed that perhaps Ginny was friends with the wrong kind of students.

She had basic point stating that Ron was simply looking out for his sister and for some reason believed that Draco was a threat. This led into Ron and Ginny having another huge fight, which left Ginny storming out of the room and up to her room when her mom told her she was acting irrational. She hadn't even listened to Ginny try to explain that Ron didn't even know her friends. She blamed it on the simple fact that her mom had been a popular student when she had gone to school. She would have been able to fit right into Pansy's crowd and she could easily dislike all the same people.

She loved her mom as well as Ron, but there was no way she would let them change her mind.

In the morning on the last day of break, Ginny trumped down the steps and into the kitchen for breakfast. The Grangers and the Potters were coming over tonight for a dinner get together. Ginny had wrote her mom about it when she was at school and she had contacted the Grangers. Ginny spoke with Hermione and she said she would tell Ron and Harry that she was muggleborn at some point in time before the dinner.

She hasn't said anything about it since then, leaving Ginny to hope that she just didn't forget to mention it or something.

Ginny quickly ate her breakfast, hoping to return to her room and hide for the rest of the day. However, her mother had other plans for her and Ron for the day. She expected them to clean up the house as it was their friends' families coming over. She was going to convince the twins to help as it is their house as well. Ginny wanted to complain because she knew her mother was doing it to get her and Ron to start talking again, but it wasn't going to happen.

"Now go and wake Ron so he can eat and you two can get started." Molly said in a firm tone, making Ginny purse her lips and once again storm back upstairs, all the way to Ron's balcony. She knocked on his door several times, knowing that it wouldn't wake him. Ron could sleep through almost anything.

"Ronald!" Ginny yelled at the door, but no sound came from other side. "Wake up!" She shouted once again, but this time she swore she could hear him snore. She tried his door, but of course he had locked it. She crossed her arms and gave his door a hard look while deciding what to do for a moment. She then smiled and walked down a couple levels to Percy's room. She knocked politely on his door and he opened it quickly.

"I am very busy Ginny." Percy said about to shut the door when she stopped him.

"I need you to quickly unlock Ron's door. Mom is busy and she told me to wake him and you know how he can be." Ginny explained to him, making sure to ramble on a bit because that drove him crazy. It reminded him of Fred and George, and if she rambled enough, she could play both of their parts.

"Alright, step aside." He said in his normal pompous tone, making Ginny roll her eyes. He went up and unlocked Ron's door as soon as it was in sight, not wanting to take the effort to walk all the way to it. He looked pointedly at his sister, before going back into his room, shutting the door with more effort than needed.

Ginny merely shrugged and walked away because she had gotten what she wanted. She then walked to the bathroom and filling a glass with cold water. She may be starting trouble, but it would be worth it. He knew he was exaggerating how much she is acting out at school. He was making her out to be worse than she was and if he believed she was like that, then she would show him what that would be like.

A few moments later there was a loud yell, Ron jumping up from his deep slumber, wiping water out of his face. Ginny sat the glass down on his table and then told him breakfast was ready before turning and leaving his room. Ron, now fully awake, was not going to just let it go just like that. He quickly jumped out of bed and chased her downstairs into the kitchen.

He ran right into her when she stopped dead, both of them tumbling to the floor.

Ginny and Ron looked up into the faces of the Potters and the Grangers. Turns out, Molly was surprising them and having an all-day gathering with their friends. Molly explained to a horrified Ginny and Ron that they better hurry and wash up because the Blacks, Fawcetts, Longbottoms, Diggorys and Lovegoods would be joining them as well.

Ginny and Hermione quickly rushed upstairs, closely followed by Harry and Ron. Ginny quickly shut the door once Hermione was in the room behind her. She let out the breath she had been holding upon seeing Harry so suddenly and unexpected. She presumed that is how Ron felt upon seeing Hermione based on his matching reaction.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Ginny asked in shocked tone, swatting at her best friend, who threw her hands up.

"I didn't know. Our parents did all of this." Hermione explained, making Ginny look at her interested. "Harry and his family showed up at my house just over an hour ago. My parents had gone to the store to pick up something real quick and I had just woken up." Hermione said taking a step back to give Ginny a full view of her outfit. She was hearing an largely oversize t-shirt, the slightly hung off her one shoulder, a pair of pajama pants and slippers. "I had no idea they were there. Next thing I know my parents are home and it's time to leave."

Ginny listened to Hermione and recalled how Harry and Eura had been in their pajamas as well. "I barely had time to toss on pajama pants and get in the car. It was horribly awkward." Hermione said, making Ginny quickly look at her. She had been walking around her house in just that shirt and Harry had seen her like that. Would that spark Harry to start having feelings for her. Although, Cho had broken up with Cedric, so he was probably after he again. That didn't mean that he wouldn't develop feelings for Hermione.

"How was the trip here?" Ginny managed to get out, although she now had the returning paranoid fear that Harry and Hermione would end up dating one another.

"Not much better. I was wide awake, while Harry was passed out and Eura didn't say a single word. Our parents spoke, but I was far too mentally preoccupied to listen the whole time." Hermione said and Ginny looked at her shocked.

"You got nothing out of them?" Ginny asked and Hermione smiled, shaking her head.

"I didn't say that. I do know that James and Lily had levitated Harry and Eura into their car." Hermione said and Ginny looked interested. "None of us had any idea what our parents were planning." Hermione explained and Ginny rolled her eyes. "James and Lily were telling my parents all about the families that would be coming today. James friend Sirius is driving my parents car here later so we can all travel back into London for the train back to school." Hermione explained and Ginny sighed. That indeed had been at least something to go on and the two girls quickly opted that it would be best to start getting ready immediately.

* * *

Ginny's bedroom door flew open as Fred and George walked in. Ginny and Hermione both glanced at them as they parade in, making Ginny roll her eyes because this was not an abnormal thing.

"Mornin' Granger." Fred said as George shut the door.

"Good holiday, Hermione?" George asked, making Ginny roll her eyes.

"What do you want?" Ginny asked them, quickly growing impatient.

"Mum sent us to tell you that everyone will be arriving very soon so she wants everyone downstairs." Fred informed them. "Let's go Granger." Fred said quickly, hurrying Hermione out of the room. George once again shut the door.

"I am her to talk to you as Forge since Fred needs to distract Hermione so it can be discussed without her around you." George said, making Ginny sit down on her bed while she tried to process what he just said to her.

"What?" She asked almost abruptly.

"Never mind. The point is we wanted to tell you that you have a lot of attitude and determination to be doing what you're doing. Rallying rebels and such." He explained and Ginny looked at him interested. "We wanted you to have every chance at being popular when you started Hogwarts, but you did it without our help. You did it in a way we approve of so much better than using our help to raise your popularity." He said with a confident smile, making Ginny's face break out into a huge grin.

"Who would have thought you two would approve of such rebellion." She said sarcastically as she walked over to her bedroom door, leading the way out of her room.

* * *

After dinner that night, Arthur made a bonfire for the kids in the back yard, leaving them to all retreat outside. The parents stayed inside, obviously comparing children and such stuff they discussed, advice and horror stories of their children growing up. Ginny was sure her parents had quite a few stories and she was sure she would hear them one day if she didn't already know it.

The teenagers sat in a circle around the fire, trying to make casual conversation with one another. Cedric was there and while Fred and George were friends with him when they were younger, they grew apart over the years at school. Shauna was sitting next to Ginny on one side, while Luna was on the other side of Shauna. Hermione was next to Ginny, Harry on the other side or her, followed by Ron, Neville and Eura, who was next to Luna.

The Weasley children and the two Potters had been surprised to learn that their parents have known each other since before the war. They had fought alongside each other in the Order of the Phoenix. Sirius had grown tired of listening to the adults talk about their children, choosing to not settle down. Not just yet at least. He came out and talked with the kids, telling them stories about the Order and what they did.

He kept them entertained for hours, telling stories of the Order and back when he was going to Hogwarts. It was after midnight when Molly came storming outside, having lost track of time herself. She began chasing all the kids inside, saying they would need sleep to get up in the morning.

Needless to say, none of them wanted to get up in the morning. After a weary goodbye to their parents, they tossed their belongings into the trunk of one of the cars and got in. Sirius drove James and Lilly's car so they could apparate right to work, while Hermione's parents drove their own car. After some magical readjustments to the cars, the six boys sat comfortable in Sirius's car, while the five girls rode with Mr. and Mrs. Granger.

The train was hardly full when they headed back to school. It was normally quite roomy as the train was built to hold first thru third year student as well, leaving around hundred extra seats. It took some persuading, but Ron managed to get Ginny to agree to go into an empty compartment with him so they can work out their fight.

Ron shut the door to the compartment and turned around to look at Ginny. He opened his mouth to speak, but said nothing, making Ginny cross her arms, losing her patience. Ron sat down, resting an arm on each leg like he was searching for what he wanted to say. He then rested his head in his hands.

"Ron." Ginny snapped now quickly losing her patience.

"I don't want to fight with you anymore." He snapped back, making Ginny plop down on bench across from him. "We've been at each other's throats all year, but even that is better than not talking." He confessed quickly, finally looking up at her.

"I am going to grow up and you need to accept that I'm not going to be everything you want me to be." She said to defend herself and he looked at her shocked.

"What do you want from me? In case you forgot you can't remember how you rung in the new year." Ron barked at her and it was her turn to look at him shocked.

"Of course I didn't forget." She retorted with, about to just get up and leave.

"Then your off publicly snogging Draco bloody Malfoy." He came at her with and she quickly stood up.

"I was proving a point to Pansy!" Ginny snapped at him.

"Why are you always fighting against her? What point did you have to prove?" He asked her, not understanding what was going on.

"She is the one who drugged me." Ginny confessed in a low voice. Ron opened his mouth, prepared to snap, but then stopped. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, searching for something to say. "I couldn't just take that. We're fourteen and I'm not going to tell everyone that it was her because we make stupid choices." She said, her voice a little but louder than before, but still in a low voice.

"What does any of this have to do with Malfoy?" Ron asked and Ginny turned so she was now completely facing him.

"She did it because she doesn't like that I am friends with him." Ginny tried to explained to him, but he just laughed a bit.

"Then stop being friends with him." He replied simply making Ginny let out a single, sarcastic laugh.

"He's the one who saved me from the party. He took care of me and found out what happened to me." Ginny elaborated for him, before telling him that she would always stand by Draco's side.

"I don't want to fight with you." Ron said as soon as she firmly stated her place as his friend.

"Like I want to fight with you." She snapped back, crossing her arms.

"Then let's just stop. We won't fight anymore." Ron said and Ginny sighed, wondering how long that could possibly last.

"Alright." She said because she had to admit that she hated not talking to Ron, although he could be a prick sometimes.

"Come sit with Harry and me. Hermione was in our compartment when I left." Ron suggested and Ginny smiled weakly, before nodding her head and following him out of the compartment. Draco, Blaise, Shauna and Michael could surely do with her absence for a while longer. She followed him in the opposite direction of where she had been sitting with her friends. He walked into another compartment after a while and Ginny went to follow him when she stopped dead in the doorway.

Hermione was in the compartment with Harry, but so was Cho. Ginny looked shocked at first, but quickly recovered herself.

"I just came by to say hi and see how your breaks went." Ginny said with a smile to Harry and Cho. They responded to her and talked for a moment, but Ginny hardly listened before she finally sought out the chance to make her escape. She didn't intend on being stuck in a compartment with Harry and Cho, now both single again.

A moment later Hermione was behind her. "That was real thickheaded of Ron to put you in a position like that." Hermione said to comfort Ginny, who merely shrugged it off.

"Like he knew any better." Ginny said because that was probably true. Now that Ginny wasn't completely fumbling over herself around Harry, they both had probably completely forgotten her crush on him. It seemed that everyone else had at least.

"I really should have told you they were dating." Hermione confessed, which made Ginny stop walking.

"They are actually dating now?" Ginny asked, assuming that they were just merely friends back in the compartment. Perhaps that was because she was there.

"It's hard to tell how long it was after she broke up with Cedric, but they have definitely been dating since the end of February." Hermione explained and Ginny nodded her head. They had all seen it coming for a while, but she never anticipated it actually happening.

"It's fine. Really." She said when Hermione gave her an interested look. "It was a childish crush and it's not like I want to be his second choice." She confessed and Hermione smiled, happy to see that her friend was taking it so well. It was honestly how Ginny felt, but it didn't change that it still stung a bit.


	9. Young

**Chapter Nine ****May 1995**

Ginny walked into her dorm, shutting the door behind her and turning around. Hermione was curled up on her bed, reading a book and all was almost completely normal. The only difference was Hermione actually looked up from her book. Normally, she will continue reading, while listening to Ginny until something happened when she had to pay attention.

Tonight, Hermione looked up immediately and expectantly because today had been the first Hogsmede trip since they returned to school from break. Ginny had gone with Michael like she said they would and they had spent all day there. Hermione had seen her for maybe a second while she had been there with Harry and Ron.

"You seem to spend a lot of time with the two of them." Ginny said, a smile still visible on her face.

"They were my first friends here, other than you. We weren't the closest of friends until I stayed at your house, but who cares about that. I want to know how it went with Michael." Hermione said indignantly , although she had a smile on her face as well.

Truthfully, Ginny had a great time with Michael. They got a small lunch at the Three Broomsticks and when they were leaving is when they passed Hermione and the boys as they walked into the pub. After that, they spent the rest of the day, walking around the shops and talking. The two of them always had something to talk about with each other and now that they had the chance to actually just talk, they continued on for hours.

When nightfall came, they sat down for dinner and continued to talk. They talked for so long that when they finally looked at the time, they realized that they would have to run through the small town to get to the last carriage before it went back to the castle. That turned into an awkward ride back when Harry and Cho had been sitting in the carriage, waiting for the two students who were running down the street.

"How did that go?" Hermione asked, surprised to hear that Harry and Cho were heading back that late. She expected Ginny and Michael to push the rules to the limit on Hogsmede visits, but not Harry and Cho.

"It was awkward, but by no means ruined my evening." Ginny said, her smile growing bigger. "I got a goodnight kiss and he asked me to be his girlfriend." Ginny said and Hermione clapped her hands excitedly. They then proceeded to talk about her new relationship with Michael, going into more detail about their trip to Hogsmede.

* * *

Although Hermione had been excited about Ginny's new relationship, Ron was not very happy about it. He wasn't a big fan of Michael to begin with, but now that he was dating his sister, he really disliked him. Of course, since Ron refused to fight with Ginny, they were bitterly nice to one another about it.

Bitter and sarcastic.

It wasn't fighting though. They would smile, pretend to be happy and make sarcastic comments to one another. The sarcastic comments never bothered either of them because they could just roll their eyes and move on. It was the disagreements and arguments they couldn't handle from one another.

Ginny's close friends had been rather supportive of her new relationship. The girls thought Michael was gorgeous in a dark manner, fitting the image that Ginny was trying to fit into right now. Not to mention he was extremely nice and respectful to Ginny, so that only made them approve of him more.

Draco and Blaise had approved of him now that they had gotten to know him a tad more. They said he was a 'pretty alright bloke' and said that Ginny could have done a lot worse for a first boyfriend.

"Like you guys have any say on who I date." Ginny had said to Draco and Blaise, both of whom were sitting in the tree above her. They both exchanged looks and a light chuckle before changing the conversation. Ginny then wondered how they would have reacted if she had begun dating Harry rather than Michael. They certainly wouldn't approve of Harry since Draco and Blaise completely clashed with Harry and Ron.

What if they hadn't approved of her dating Harry, if she hypothetically dated him? Which side would she have chosen? If they hadn't approved of Michael she surely wouldn't have broken up with him just to please them, would she? Did Blaise and Draco really have that much of an effect on her decisions?

"Hey Ginny." Neville said, approaching her and her group of friends. Not many people would willingly do that alone. Draco and Blaise sat up in the tree branches, while Shauna and Ginny were sitting with their back against the tree trunk. The rest of their friends that were with them at that moment were scattered around the tree and against the wall.

They had, of course, chosen the tree that spent the most time hidden from the sun throughout the day. Gave it more of a dark appeal.

"Hey Neville. How are you?" Ginny asked smiling up at him.

"Alright. Can I speak to you?" He asked, gesturing that he talk with her alone. She nodded her head, getting up from her place against the tree trunk.

"Oh, come on Longbottom. Don't just rush off now." Blaise said in a mock upset tone.

"Exactly. Stay with us, just for a little while." Holden said in a hypnotizing way, carrying on Blaise's joke.

"We can be a lot of fun." Shauna said with a wink before Ginny finally narrowed her eyes at them as she walked away with Neville. They all laughed amongst themselves and then continued their conversation as their voices faded away. Ginny stopped walking when they were a good enough distance away.

"Sorry about them. They can be a handful sometimes." She said with a laugh, glancing back at them, then looking at Neville.

"I actually wanted to talk to you about that." Neville said, making Ginny raise an eyebrow. "What exactly are you doing?" He asked her and she felt herself smile a little. He was acting like an older brother, but he wasn't good at standing up to others, let alone his friends. He was nervous and Ginny could hear him stutter his words.

"Neville, I'm not someone who can just sit on the side lines. I wanted to be popular because I wanted to be a good person and I always subconsciously felt that is where the good people belonged. Coming to Hogwarts made me realize it is not that simple." She explained to him and he looked at her interested in what she had to say.

"Those people you hang out with-" He began but Ginny cut him off, not wanting him to say something that would make her angry with him.

"Are my friends, therefore I must have something in common with them. They are not that bad of people because if they were, I would not be with them all of the time." She explained to him.

"Ginny." He began but she once again jumped in.

"I never expected Hogwarts to be like this, but if the popular crowd rejects me I need to do something about it and becoming infamously known throughout the school seemed the best way to go about it. You should try it sometime. Join the rebellion." She said with smirk, before saying that she should get back to her friends. She welcomed him to join them anytime, before walking back over to them, taking a seat in the exact spot she had left.

* * *

Now that Pansy and Daphne are not only officially speaking again, but back to best friends, Pansy seems to have gotten passed what happened at the tournament. She was back to going out of her way to try and make Ginny have a bad day. However, now Ginny had her group of girlfriends that were always around her.

Now both Ginny and Pansy were going out of their way to make sure the other one had a bad day.

If Ginny was having a good day, she wanted Pansy to have a bad one. If Pansy was having a bad day, she wanted Ginny to have an even worse day. If one of them were bored, they would use the other for amusement. There was no forgiving or forgetting and there was always payback. It wasn't long before they started to divide up the girls in the school.

The guys mostly didn't seem to care what the two groups of girls fought about. However, the other girls in the school took interest and soon they began picking sides and it was starting to become very obvious. Although, Hermione always cleared seemed to be on Ginny side, neither leader would threaten Hermione to choose sides. Pansy didn't want to be seen as the worst friend and Ginny trusted Hermione completely, just how she trusts Draco.

The way Hermione and Draco can defend Ginny when put in the situation is remarkable. Even Pansy knows it, not daring to challenge Hermione about her friendship with Ginny. She hasn't even tried to talk to Draco since Ginny made it clear he wanted nothing to do with her. Well, after she had no choice but to accept what Ginny had said. Draco had clearly chosen his side and it made Pansy's blood boil that he chose someone he has only known for a school year, compared to her, who he has known his whole life.

_Perhaps Draco was onto something there._

Ginny thought with a smirk as she worked on homework in the common room with Draco and Blaise. Soon homework turned into hanging out because Ginny always seemed to lose concentration. Blaise was easy to instigate and Draco would get so annoyed with them, but he never packs up his things to bring his studies to his quiet dorm. He always pushes it aside like the other two after a while, joining in on conversation when the other two won't quit talking.

"How can you not like the weird sisters?" Ginny asked Draco in shock when he claimed that they weren't worth listening to at all.

"They're guys." Draco pointed out and she rolled her eyes. She looked over to Blaise, who shrugged.

"They're a decent band, but the name is a bit of a letdown for the male population." Blaise said before the conversation switched to another band that he liked. They continued going for a while, band after band, before they decided to head up to their room and get ready for bed. Ginny headed back down to the common room when she finished changing, having left her school books in the common room. Draco and Blaise had brought their books up with them, so she doubted that they would be back.

Ginny collapsed on the couch, her head on a pillow that was propped up against the arm of the couch. She levitated her book and paper over to her lap, rest her book against her knees. She then began to scan through her paper, rereading it real quick before she continued writing.

"You spelt '_wingardium leviosa_' wrong." Draco said from behind her, making her jump a bit, before looking straight up.

"You're a tosspot if you think I spelt it wrong. Where is it wrong?" She asked, looking down at her paper, looking the incantation in her paper. Draco knelt down next to her and tilted her paper towards him to he could find it again, before pointing it out to her.

"Oh. I was busy thinking and doing homework." She said as he corrected it, simultaneously looking over the rest of her paper. He normally did this, which she didn't mind because she usually made stupid spelling errors. She never noticed them, but they seemed to really bother him.

She looked over at him as he spell checked her paper, tilting her head to the side. There was a little bit of a discoloration on his neck, which she assumed was hickey, but his uniform had been covering most of it for a couple days. However, now that he was in his t-shirt, she realized that it was a rather big love bite.

She was curious to know who had left it and wondering the best way to ask. She was also curious to know how actually big it was and since he was wearing a baggy enough t-shirt for bed, she decided to figure it out. She reached forward and pulled at the neck of his shirt to reveal more of his neck, back and shoulder.

She froze immediately.

But Draco did not.

Her book and paper went flying as she jumped up shocked when he shouted at her, asking what she thought she was doing. She stared at him shocked, simply unable to form words to what just happened. He continued to yell, trying to figure out what she was doing before Blaise came back out into the common room.

"What's going on?" He asked, noticing that Draco had been yelling and Ginny sat speechless and seemingly mortified.

"Just keep your mouth shut." Draco said in a low and dark tone to Ginny, before heading towards his dorm as Blaise walked towards them. Ginny sat there, not sure what she should do, unable to move as she continued to try processing what happened. Blaise finally walked over to her when Draco was shut away in his dorm.

"What the bloody hell was that all about?" Blaise asked Ginny, picking up her book and paper when he realized that she certainly wasn't going to be doing it. He yelled at her, I mean really yelled at her and that made everything else harder to process. "Ginny?" Blaise asked, sitting on the couch next to her. She shook her head, hearing Draco's dark voice telling her to just shut up.

"I can't." She managed to get out after another few moments. Blaise sat silently for a moment before he finally said something.

"You were being nosy, weren't you." Blaise said because it wasn't so much a question as it was something he knew. She sighed and nodded her head because that had been true, but she thought it was a hickey. She wasn't trying to pry into his life, although now she would be more prone to do so. "I'm assuming you have seen it then." Blaise said, making Ginny quickly look at him.

"What?" She asked him and he nodded his head.

"I can see it in the way you look at me. You're horrified, mortified and terrified." He pointed out to her and she nodded her head slowly. "He was careful all week to make it look like a hickey. Worked for the most part." Blaise pointed out and Ginny nodded slowly.

"It went down most of his back and side from what I could see." She recalled to him, remembering on how it was darker in some spots and lighter in others.

"It's usually not that bad." Blaise admitted and Ginny looked at him.

"Where did he get them from?" She asked him cautiously and Blaise shook his head.

"I can't tell you that." Blaise said and she nodded her head.

"He got them from home, didn't he?" She asked him because it was suddenly all too clear to her now. Slowly everything was starting to make more sense, although there was still plenty of holes.

"You already know the answer to that. I know you're smart, but I'm telling you anyway. Don't start anything with him. You know if you don't bring it up, he will go back to normal and you do not want to bring it up to him." Blaise warned her, before telling her she should get to bed before she caused more trouble. He then headed back up to his own dorm room, saying he needed to talk to Draco before he tried to pretend to be asleep.

* * *

The month of May began to fly by and exams quickly approached. Ginny had done what Blaise had said and she never brought up the bruises she had seen that night. Like he said, Draco was normal, although perhaps a bit too normal. Ginny could sense that he at least felt a little bit bad about yelling at her. That was enough for her for now because it was quite obvious he was not one to be pushed.

However, the tension between the girls had not faded. It had become quite clear to the professors that there was a problem, eventually Professor McGonagall had no choice but to address the growing issue. On the last Friday in May, she gathered all the girls in the fourth year before they left the Great Hall to head to classes in the morning.

She had all of them stay in their seats until the rest of the Great Hall had cleared. When the rest of the students and professors had finally left the hall, she had all the girls gather to the front of the room. They watched as Professor McGonagall cleared away the tables.

"She is going to make us late for muggle studies." Hermione pointed out, making Ginny roll her eyes. Although it wasn't her least favorite class, she was happy to have a reason not to be in class. However, McGonagall seemingly heard Hermione because spoke as if answering what she had said.

"You all will not be attending class today." She said to them, before making a few rows of benches appearing in the middle of them room and then directed them to sit down. There were some problems getting them all too sit down near one another and not being allowed to say anything. McGonagall's voice made it quite clear that they were being punished. "It had become come to the attention of the professors that there is a problem among the girls in the school, quite clearly coming from this year." She said and then it began.

The all-day confrontation about the girls' bullying one another.

McGonagall cleared her throat and then began. "Girls often respond without taking the time to think through all of their options. Emotional reactions to certain situations can get in the way of more rational problem-solving." She began with simply getting right to the point. "Behaviors that include things such as spreading rumors, making nasty comments, isolating a friend and cutting off friendships escalate problems and will heighten the level of the original drama."

Ginny and Hermione exchanged looks, as were some of the other girls. Pansy was on the other side of Hermione and she narrowed her eyes at Ginny, making her return the dirty look.

"Many problems occur or escalate because girls base their beliefs solely on rumors, body language, and behavior. They may believe that a friend is trash talking them based on a random rumor. Instead of going to the source for verification, they often accept their perception as reality and then respond accordingly." McGonagall continued with, noticing friends glace at one another. Some of them looking confidently at their friends, while others looked a bit worried or suspicious.

"Always verify." Ginny said to Hermione, who nodded her head, both agreeing to do that with one another.

"Girls often perceive that problems are worse or more difficult than they really are. They cannot understand how easily it can be fixed. It's because girls are so emotionally invested in their personal relationships, threats to their status can easily seem like the end of the world." McGonagall explained to them as she walked around the group to watch them all and prevent any talking. "The tendency to react disproportionately to the situation also increases the levels of attention and perceived urgency."

Ginny turned to her other side, Shauna sitting there and looking like she was about to fall asleep. She clearly did not have a problem with how the other girls behaved. Other girls were listening closely to what McGonagall had to say, but the ones closest to Ginny and Pansy seemed to be showing very little interest.

Ginny smirked to herself a bit. She was the reason they were having this lecture. If she hadn't been here, order would still be in place because no one would be fighting back.

"Drama builds when problems escalate due to the other behaviors. Without the ability to diffuse conflicts, girls resort to the responses they are familiar with. They see a conflict, perceive that their status is at risk, panic, and react." She explained to them in a firm voice, realizing that she was losing some of their attention. It was also cleared that she was not thrilled to be having this conversation. "The pressures of being perfect can be too much to cope with and teens may explode with a temper tantrum or worse may decide to inwardly deal with the pressures and choose cutting or eating issues to gain a sense of control." She said, before warning them about how they could start more problems for the girls they are inflicting with emotional pain.

They then spent the rest of the morning doing trust exercises and trying to get the girls to open up. There was weak effort from the most of the girls, but Ginny had to admit that McGonagall made a great effort. None of the students spoke up about it until McGonagall was returning the table for lunch. Pansy had to put it out there that the girls would simple never get along. McGonagall frowned and looking at Pansy, asking why she says that.

"Teens love to be there for friends, attend every party to which they are invited and don't want to say 'no' to their peers." She said as students began to enter the Great Hall. Ginny narrowed her eyes at Pansy, before walking away to join the students entering the hall for lunch.

* * *

Ginny lay in her bed pondering a thought in her head. Early on girls get this message that they must be pretty, smart and sweet. And that they can't simply be just pretty, smart and sweet. They must be prettier, smarter and sweeter than the next girl. They rate each other on a scale that measures how many friends a girl has, how popular they are, how pretty they are and how committed they are to each other. And because it's all a competition, someone has to lose in order for someone to win.

Ginny hated to admit it, but she heard every word that McGonagall said. She then heard what Pansy said and it made her realize that she agreed with what McGonagall said, but it wouldn't happen that easily. Pansy was right about that, none of the girls wanted to give up the fight. Even though she agreed with McGonagall, she wasn't going to let Pansy win.

"McGonagall says that the female bully, although we call girls like Pansy queen bee, retains her top of the social ladder status by undermining other girls and creating fear in her social circle so they comply to her wishes." Ginny said to Hermione when they were alone in their dorm a few nights later. Hermione looked at her shocked, surprised that she was randomly bringing that up. "It's a rather warped, yet disturbingly effective, survival of the fittest of young females." Ginny pointed out and Hermione scoffed that the idea.

"I think McGonagall is a little paranoid and Pansy is simply just a bitch." She said, simply waving off what Ginny had said, but this made the red head sit up quickly.

"I agree with what you said completely. Now you remember that you are saying that as her friend so there are people out there who don't see her in a decent light like you do." Ginny said to Hermione, who laughed and told Ginny she was simply overthinking it, which was unusual. Although it wasn't weird for Ginny to overthink, it was usually Hermione that did the overthinking out of the two of them. Ginny bit on her lip, letting out a sigh.

Perhaps Hermione was right.

Maybe Ginny was spending so much time thinking about the problems between the girls, because she didn't want to think about all the bruises on Draco's back. She laid back down on her bed, not saying another word.

"So Draco and Daphne." Hermione said after a long silence, making Ginny turn her head so she was looking at Hermione from her bed.

"What about them?" Ginny asked and Hermione looked at her with interest.

"They've been fooling around behind Pansy's back for a few weeks now." Hermione explained, making Ginny look at her with interest. "Daphne likes the bad guy in him, at least that is what she says. Pansy is so busy trying to ignore Draco since he won't acknowledge her existence, she is looking right passed the secret fling." Hermione explained, but Ginny was still trying to figure out why she was hearing this from Hermione.

* * *

Ginny sat in the common room on the last night in May. She began paying more attention to Draco and Daphne the past few days and noticed how in sync their schedules were on some days. Tonight, they left the common room at separate times, both needing to go to the library for a book. Hermione had returned from the library after they left and confirmed for Ginny that they were indeed not in the library.

Not that Ginny cared that Draco was nonchalantly fooling around with Daphne, but more annoyed that she heard it from Hermione, rather than him. He always made her talk about her relationship with Michael, Blaise and Draco proving to be very nosy. Secret or not, she was willing to bet that Blaise knows and she was being left out simply because she was girl.

That would not float with her.

Almost like clockwork, Daphne entered the common room, noticing the only person who still occupied it was Ginny. The red head sat with a somewhat smug look on her face, making the blond immediately retreat to her room. Not that Ginny expected anything else from her. Cho and Daphne rarely gave Ginny a hard time without Pansy around.

A few carefully calculated moments later, Draco entered the common room. Although, when he realized that Ginny was the only one still occupying it, he stopped walking, letting the portrait shut behind him.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" He asked her as he walked into the center of the common room, taking a seat on the same couch as her.

"You're not very good at playing oblivious." Ginny told him and he leaned back against the arm of the chair so that both of them were now facing one another. "But we all know you can keep secrets." She said her voice more sardonic the second time around.

"I never claimed to be affront about anything." He said to her and she laughed dryly.

"No you definitely did not." She said to him and he gave her an interested look. "About a month ago Blaise told me that one day you may finally open up to me, but I don't think that will happen." She said to him and he continued to look at her. "I get that you don't talk about your past and I deal with that because I wasn't a part of it."

"Ginny." He said to stop her, but she continued talking over him.

"I should be included in what's going on in your life right now, but you can't even tell me something simple, like how you're 'seeing' Daphne in secret." She pointed out to him and he cleared his throat.

"Are you really that upset about that?" He asked him, laughing a bit, but immediately stopped when she still looked serious.

"I couldn't care less, but I'd still like to know." She said before continuing. "Honestly, it really has nothing to do with Daphne." Ginny admitted to her as realization began to set in. Draco looked at her perplexed, but she immediately continued on. "I'm worried about you."

"Why the bloody-" He began with before he stop short. Ginny could practically see that night at the beginning of the month replaying in his eyes.

"I can't help but be worried. I've tried to be anything else, but my thought always wonders back to you." She explained to him, but he shook his head.

"There is nothing for you to be worried about. You're making something out of nothing." He said to her, yet she shook her head.

"I know it's not nothing, but even if it was nothing, you made it something when you snapped and yelled at me." She said, her voice dropping slightly as she neared the end.

"I felt bad about that." Draco admitted and Ginny nodded, sensing he felt that way all along.

"If you tell me what's going on, it'll ease how we both feel." She said to him and he quickly shook his head, closing his eyes.

"There is nothing to talk about." He said, before pushing himself off of the couch. As soon as his weight left the couch, so did Ginny's as she stood up with him.

"There is plenty to talk about and I've had my fill of being left out, even if I have to force myself in." She said to him firmly and he looked at her as if she was crazy.

"Don't even start with me." He warned her and she tossed her arms up.

"I'm always warned to watch out for you and be careful about what I bring up, but you can walk all over me and bring up whatever suits you and I am no longer okay with that." She snapped at him, trying not to raise her voice.

"Will you just-" He began but Ginny didn't want to hear any of it.

"SHUT IT!" She yelled at him, making his sentence stop dead. The two of them looked at each for a long moment before she finally continued speaking. "Please, don't let the fact that I am genuinely worried about you ruin our friendship." She said to him and he rolled his eyes.

"It won't." He said but she shook her head.

"It will because I don't know if you have family problems or some badly behaved pet hippogriff you enjoy pissing off." She snapped at him because he just wasn't getting it. "I'm sure that I'll always be worried, but not knowing what is going on makes it all I think about. This is the second time one of us has ever seriously yelled at one another. I'd have to say it is threatening our friendship." She confirmed for him, leaving them both to sit in silence.

_I don't know where the time goes  
But it sure goes fast just like that  
We were wanna be rebels who didn't have a clue  
In our rock and roll t-shirts and our typically bad attitudes  
Had no excuses for the things that we'd done  
We were brave, we were crazy, we were mostly young_

_-_Kenny Chesney


	10. The Kill

**A/n: **Sorry about the wait, but I won't fill this space up with excuses. The song at the end of this chapter is 'The Kill' by 30 seconds to Mars. I'm not sure who the quote is by, but if you know I will happily post it in the next chapter.

**Enjoy...**

* * *

**When we are children we seldom think of the future. This innocence leaves us free to enjoy ourselves as few adults can. The day we fret about the future is the day we leave our childhood behind.**

**Chapter Ten**

"It's just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time." Draco said to Ginny, finally trying to open up to her when she made it quite clear she was near her breaking point. There had been quite a long silence before Draco had no choice but to give in.

"You mean you were?" She asked him and he smirked a bit.

"I more meant my parents when I was conceived." He said with a bit of a chuckle, but Ginny looked at him horrified. "My whole life has just been a series of bad timing." He explained to her and she shook her head.

"I doubt that's true." She said to him and he laughed a bit again.

"I think you yourself had made it clear that you know nothing about my life." He explained to her and all she could do was nod her head. "My parents had very much been in love when they had gone to school, but upon leaving school the love began to dissipate. However, both being from very well-known pureblood families, they refused to let something as simple as feeling get in the way of marriage." Draco explained to Ginny who scrunched up her nose.

"They definitely went about that the wrong way." She said to him and he nodded his head before he continued.

"I presume you know about Tom Riddle, the one they called Voldemort." Draco asked her and she nodded her head. "My father was very deep within his ranks." He said to her, taking in every single movement her face made, trying to decipher each facial movement. "It became his life and he became a very dark man. My mother's family fully supported the dark movement and both families eagerly awaited an heir." He explained to her and she nodded her head slowly, trying to keep up with everything he was saying.

"My father simply cannot stand children and my mother honestly never thought of bearing children, but an heir was indeed needed." He said, before leaning into the couch and gesturing towards himself. "The dark side fell before I was born, obviously, but it didn't change what my parents had become." He said and then he paused for quite some time.

"So I guess you don't own a badly behaved hippogriff." Ginny said slowly and he smirked, appreciating how she was making light of a dark situation. She was cautious not to mock him, but she made it easy for him to explain it to her and not listen to how bad she feels for him.

"My father has bit of a temper and I have a bit of a sharp tongue. It has never worked out the best, especially for me, but I never really learned to just keep my mouth shut. Much like someone else I know." He said, looking directly at Ginny, making her roll her eyes. "Although my mother doesn't love me-" He was saying when Ginny began talking.

"I wouldn't say-" She was interrupting him with, but he just kept on talking over her.

"She learned enough medicine to know how to rid the pain." He explained to her and she looked at him, wanting to know more. "She was never gifted with healing charms, but did the best she could to learn to mend broken bones. She learned to make a complicated potion to ease the pain, but she could never get a hang on making the visible effects disappear." He explained to her and she nodded her head. It explained why the bruises were visible and it was good to know that the pain was gone when she had seen them.

However, hearing all of it had not settled the uneasiness in her stomach like how she hoped it would. Draco seemed to realize that she was thinking this because he spoke up about it.

"Don't feel much better now that you know the truth, do you?" He asked her and she shook her head.

"I really don't understand how you can say you are always in the wrong place at the wrong time." She said to him and he nodded his head.

"Well it's usually when my father has had a bit too much firewhiskey or elf-made wine. That or when I walk in on him engaged in one of his many affairs." Draco said, waving it off, making Ginny look absolutely disgusted.

"Why don't you and your mother just leave?" Ginny asked and he laughed dryly.

"My dad wouldn't let go of his only heir that easily. Besides, it's not like my mother knows." Draco explained and Ginny quickly turned in her seat, unable to believe what he just said.

"Are you telling me that you haven't even told your mother." She said to him, not asking because had made it pretty clear that he didn't.

"Tell me how you would solve this." He said to her and she looked at him confused so he continued on. "My father has a pretty brutal way of keeping me quiet. Say I tell my mother of these affairs. She has the power to leave, but I can't get away as the Malfoy heir." He explained to her and then cleared his throat. "I can't say my father would be too pleased if I was the reason his pureblood, high society wife left him." He said to her and she nodded her head. It was wrong, but she was honestly more worried about Draco's well-being over his mother's knowledge that her husband is a scumbag.

"So how did Pansy fall into your bad graces?" She asked him and he rolled his eyes, laughing.

"You're just going to try and find out everything you can." Draco said and she nodded her head. "Well she, Blaise and Daphne had eventually figured out everything I just told you. I told them to keep their mouth shut, feeling they would because they would understand the repercussions it would have. However, Pansy decided that telling my mother was the way to go." He explained to her.

"So what happened?" She asked him and he smirked a bit, not surprised that she was trying to squeeze it all out of him.

"She told my mother, who confronted myself and my father. I denied it and she accepted that. My father was quite ticked though." He explained and Ginny nodding, understanding how it worked. Pansy told his mother and Daphne backed her up, while Blaise played ignorant just as Draco wanted them to do.

Ginny suddenly felt a great rush of love for her family. She always thought her family was a bit crazy, but Draco's story was so twistedly crazy that Ginny was now seeing her family in a completely different light.

* * *

Exams took up most of the students time during the first half of June. Tensions were high and everyone was a tad extra snappy to other students who interrupted them or spoke to them in the wrong way. Ginny and Pansy had been assigned a few detentions for the month of June already, Daphne, Shauna and the other girls normally right at their side.

McGonagall had been so worried that they would fail their exams, she even let them study during detention, rather than fulfilling some sort of punishment. At least she was forcing them to study on her terms.

However, when finals ended, the tension eased up now that the school year was practically done. With the third task approaching, students were once again anticipating the event. Ginny and Pansy began to ignore each other, wanting to focus on the friends they would be leaving for the next two months.

Ginny sat out by their tree with Shauna, Moxie, Evelyn and Cali. The five of them were eagerly making plans for summer vacation, promising to write to each other, as well as ask their parents to let them have friends over.

"We can stay at my house and play Quidditch in the open fields." Ginny told them and they all liked the idea. Ginny was just wondering how to ask her mom if four of her girlfriends could stay for a weekend.

"My parents would love to meet you guys. Although, they would be more excited if we could use magic outside of school. They have been dying to see what I can do." Moxie said with a dry laugh.

"My sister is a professional wizarding stylist. She will have better tips than I do." Shauna said, clapping her hands together and making Ginny laugh.

"So that is why you have such a keen sense of style." Ginny said and Shauna nodded happily.

"Well, I have a big house, plenty of money and parents who are never home." Cali tossed in, nodding when they all eagerly liked the idea of staying at her house.

"I would be throwing parties all the time." Shauna said excitedly and Moxie laughed.

"That is why someone is always at your house with you." She threw in, making Shauna roll her eyes. Ginny was under the impression that Cali rarely thought of using her empty house as a party pad. She would probably mostly use the time to work on her art, her newest story or perhaps sing with no one around to hear.

"We will just have to convince our parents to let us spend a weekend at each house." Cali said and the other girls nodded in agreement. They then worked on when would be a good time to stay over and when to try and take family vacations. Ginny wasn't worried about planning vacations around her friends' schedules because it was very unlikely for her to go anywhere.

"Well, I'm sure you will want to spend time with Hermione, Draco or Blaise as well." Shauna tossed in and Ginny merely shrugged her shoulders. She doubted she would see Draco until September and she highly doubted she would be in contact with Blaise at all. They weren't that good of friends.

"I was thinking about having Hermione stay at my house." Ginny said, although she never really thought about the idea.

"You should invite her the same weekend we are at your house." Cali suggested and the other girls nodded.

"We really don't mind Hermione. She's not as bad as the others." Moxie said, making Ginny agree to bring it up to Hermione, wondering how she would feel spending a weekend with Ginny's rebellious friends.

"Well what are we up to here?" Draco asked as he approached the girls. He continued on without waiting for an answer. "McGonagall just took points from me for break curfew. She's heading this way." He said, before he continued walking. The girls, having been in detention enough, did not want to risk getting another one. Ginny did a light jog to catch up to Draco as the other girls started to make their way back to the dormitories as well, walking several feet behind the other two.

"So nice of you to warn us." Ginny said when she finally caught up to Draco, the other girls at least a corridor behind them now. They were close enough to hear the scrapping of their feet against the stone floor, but it was still a good distance back.

"You know you don't have to always be in detention." Draco pointed out to her, making her raise an eyebrow, but didn't look at him as they walked up to the fourth floor.

"I don't aim to get detention, I just end up in it." She said to him. "It's not so easy with Pansy out to get you." She defended herself with, making Draco give her a dry laugh.

"I told you months ago to just let it all go." He said to her as they walked into their own common room, thankful to find it empty so they can just collapse in front of the fire.

* * *

Ginny walked with Shauna and Moxie down to the Quidditch pitch for the third task. Evelyn and Cali, who had not gone to the party for Cedric last night, were already down there, saving good seats. Although, the five of them had gone to the celebration in the Great Hall for all of the champions hard work. After that ended at nine, Ginny, Shauna and Moxie decided to make an appearance at the party for Cedric in the room of requirement.

Cedric didn't mind that Ginny was there, knowing her for many years now and they always got along rather well. Pansy did mind that Ginny made an appearance, but given the aftermath of the last party, she did nothing. It could have been perhaps that Ginny wasn't alone this time, but Pansy spent a large portion of the night in the corner, glaring.

Ginny then brought Shauna and Moxie back to her common room, where they guys were drinking. Draco, Blaise, Dean and Seamus had left Cedric's party much sooner than the three girls. The seven of them drank, although Ginny hardly touched hers, until the early morning hours when Shauna and Moxie realized they would have to sneak into their common rooms.

Needless to say, the three of them slept all day and Ginny was woken up by Hermione. She had informed the half asleep red head that she had half an hour until she had to meet the other two in the Great Hall if she wanted a decent seat. Ginny had quickly gotten out of bed and rushed to shower and practically finished getting ready as she was on her way out of her dorm.

She walked through the common room, only stopping when she heard her name. "What are you wearing?" Draco asked as he and Blaise approached her. She was wearing a skirt since it was finally nice outside again, but she was also wearing a too small tank top that appeared to be quite old. She finished pulling her shirt over her head and covered the tank top so her outfit was now complete.

"I'm running late." She said to them in a rushed tone, making Blaise smirk as he touched the middle of her back where her bra hook should be.

"Braless is hot, Weasley. Embrace it." He said with a laugh making Ginny roll her eyes and pushed her way passed them.

"You guys are, ugh- I don't even have time to insult you." She said before rushing out of the common room, making it down to the Great Hall just in time. Shauna and Moxie had made it just before her, looking quickly thrown together like her.

"Well you can tell we had a long night." Shauna said as they walked towards the covered bridge. They continued chatting as they approached the pitch, wondering where the other two would be sitting. Ginny was scanning the part of the crowd that she could see, trying to see Evelyn or Cali.

Next thing she knew, she was on the ground, her face breaking her fall.

"Watch where you're going, Weasley." Pansy said, letting out a shriek of laugher, the girls around her laughing as well. Ginny quickly flipped around and then stood up, realizing that Pansy had been standing there, waiting to trip her. "Party crashing is not your thing, so give it up." She said firmly to the red head as she stood up.

"Ginny, no!" Moxie and Shauna both yelled out but it was by far too late. Ginny had already tackled Pansy to the ground and they were now rolling down the rest of the hill towards the pitch. They were pulling hair, slapping, kicking and hitting the best they could when they stopped rolling. The other girls from both sides could be heard running up to them as well as other students who has witnessed what had just happened.

They were pulled apart almost immediately by none other than McGonagall, the one all too familiar with the same rivalry between the two girls all year long. She looked ready to explode once the girls were separated and facing the professor.

"She tackled me down the hill!" Pansy shouted out, making Ginny step forward to block out Pansy.

"After she tripped me!" Ginny snapped back, looking at Pansy then back to McGonagall.

"Enough!" She snapped at the two of them. "Everyone please take your seats." She said and the crowd quickly began to make their way into the stadium. "Oh don't be so naïve." She said to Pansy and Ginny as they motioned to start heading into the stadium.

McGonagall led them to the hospital wing, where Pomfrey could clean them up while McGonagall handled the punishment. She made it quite clear that she had enough of the fighting between the two of them.

She took points. Merlin, did she take points from the fourth years. The two of them lost a total of almost a hundred points each by the time she was finished dishing it out. She thought about giving out detention, but she didn't think it would do any good.

"Needless to say the two of you will not be attending the task." She said and they both went to object, but the look she gave them quickly shot them down. "How are their injuries?" McGonagall asked Pomfrey as she was almost done cleaning them up.

"Mostly all minor, but they both hit their head quite a few times." She said, pointing out a few head injuries on each of them.

"You both will be staying here over night. Whether the damage turns to be serious or not, you both need to learn an actual lesson of some sort. So here it is." She said to them and they looked at her shocked. Pomfrey never said they needed to stay the night. "You two will be confided to this hospital wing until this time tomorrow. That should give you enough time to pack you things for the train the following morning." She said to both girls.

"I'll get dressing gowns for them." Pomfrey said as she made her way towards her office.

"Poppy, I must return to the task, but I insist that these girls do not have visitors." She said and the nurse nodded her head as McGonagall exited the hospital wing. Neither girl looked the least bit thrilled at all, both refusing to speak for the next twenty four hours.

* * *

When Ginny and Pansy had been released from the hospital wing, they were eager to find their friends. Ginny's friends threw together a game of Quidditch because it always seemed to cheer everyone up. Although, that could be because they didn't have it at school this year. They played until the sun had gone down and quickly rushed back up to the school.

"Find us on the train tomorrow." Shauna said as she hugged Ginny outside of the dormitory hall.

"Don't forget to write." She told them all, while Draco and Blaise rolled their eyes with the other guys. They finally all said goodnight and headed into their own common rooms. Draco and Blaise then followed Ginny up to her dorm because she had yet to put everything back into her trunk, both of them collapsing down on a bed.

Ginny walked around the room, collecting her possessions and tossing them into the trunk. Thankfully Hermione had pretty much already packed her stuff before she met up with Pansy and the others. Most of the stuff that was still around the room was Ginny's, occasionally coming across something that Hermione missing.

Draco started helping by lying down on her bed and magically taking the posters off of the wall and rolling them up. Blaise thought this was a good idea and leaned against Hermione's pillow, making objects fly through the air. He would asked if it was hers and then put it in the trunk, rarely coming across something that was Hermione's. Draco joined in as soon as he was done with the posters.

Ginny soon found herself watching them transport her belongings into her trunk, making the less breakable items do tricks in the air.

"Is this yours or Granger's diary." Blaise said with a smirk, holding a small book that had been with the collection of other books.

"Mine. Go through it if you want, it's empty. I already have one, very well hidden away." She said with a laugh, before remembering that she had to get her stuff out of the bathroom. Blaise indeed opened the diary and frowned when he seen that she hadn't been lying. He tossed it over to Draco.

"Nothing." Blaise said and Draco smirked, about to toss it in the trunk when he felt small lettering on the back of it. He stopped, not really sure why he stopped, and flipped it over to look at it. "What's up?" Blaise asked, noticing Draco staring down at the diary in his hands.

"Tom Marvolo Riddle." Draco said in a voice barely above a whisper. Blaise practically fell over diving off of Hermione's bed to grab the book. He took it from Draco's hands, reading the same inscription.

"What do you think the chances are that she knows she has Tom Riddle's diary?" Blaise asked him and Draco shook his head, pocketing the diary.

"I doubt that she has a clue about it." He said as Blaise plopped back down on Hermione's bed, right as Ginny walked into the room.

"You still tried to read it, didn't you." She said to Blaise with a smirk, who sort of nodded his head weakly, before regaining his normal composure and speaking.

"Why have you not used it?" He asked her, glancing over to Draco, who was looking at Ginny, expectantly waiting for an answer.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." She said with a laugh, continuing to back her things, completely oblivious to what had been in her possession.

After she finished packing, the three of them made their way to the common room, other students saying goodbye to one another. Draco, Ginny and Blaise took their normal seats in the common room, Draco and Ginny on the couch with Blaise in the chair closest to the fire. After a while, Hermione returned to the common room with Cho, Parvati and Padma heading right up to their room.

"Have a good summer, Ginny." Cho said with a bright smile. Ginny blinked a few times, before telling Cho to do the same, although not with the most sincere smile.

"How did I know you three would be down here." Hermione said as she collapsed in the chair next to Blaise.

The four of them talked for a bit before Hermione told them they should get to bed soon, before heading to bed herself. Blaise admitted that he was tired from being all the talent during their game earlier. He then said he was going to bed and left.

"Merlin, I'm not even tired." Ginny said and Draco nodded, leaning against the arm of the couch , facing the fire. "I'm not looking forward to going home." Ginny confessed and Draco smirked.

"Did you think I was excited?" He asked her and she frowned. "Oh, stop with the feeling bad for me thing. It's annoying." He complained and Ginny rolled her eyes.

"I was just thinking you needed some more attention before you went home." She said with a smirk and he laughed.

"We all know I love the attention." He said returning her smirk. She laughed and then situated herself so that she was lying across him, her head resting on the arm of the couch. "I doubt your boyfriend would approve."

"Please, it's completely platonic." She said as he rolled his eyes and shifted one his legs onto the couch so they would both be a more comfortable position. They listened to the fire for a while before Draco finally decided he had something to say.

"I think you're in denial." He said after a long period of silence.

"I'm not in denial, I'm just selective about the reality I chose to accept." She said, not taking her eyes off the fire. "Wait, what am I in denial about?" She asked him when she realized he was actually talking about something.

"I don't think that you are completely content outside of the popular group. I feel like you'll always feel that you are entitled to belong there and that is why you are acting out against them." He said to her quickly, despite the disapproving sounds she was making. "You want all the friends and all the glamour." He said to her and she scoffed.

"I am perfectly happy with the friends I have, glamorous or not." She stated firmly, although not shifting positions. She was far too comfortable to get up or try adjusting and end up uncomfortable.

"You wanted it so bad and you hated that you were excluded. Then all of sudden you decided that it wasn't worth it. I can't believe that." He said to her and she continued to look into the fire.

It hadn't happened like that, had it? She had insulted Pansy, who immediately decided she was unworthy and she instantly hated the lot of them, didn't she? No, she hadn't. She regretted opening her mouth until Pansy offered to be her friend if she stopped talking to Draco. It seemed so entirely long ago she forgot how she firmly decided that she wouldn't be one of them.

She chose Draco over all of that because she wanted to be on his side. He chose that they were unworthy for him to bother with, so she decided that she didn't need them either. She gave it all up so she could be friends with him, so she could stand at his side.

"That girl isn't me anymore." She said to him after a pregnant pause, not wanting to admit that he was the reason that she came up with. It was true though. She was no longer the girl dreaming of popularity and thinking of all the beauty in the world.

"Who are you then?" He asked her and she paused for a moment, wondering who she was. After all, she was still trying to figure it out herself. After a moment, she smiled and then it turned to a smirk.

"Your friend." She said and he laughed while rolling his eyes. "Why is it so hard to believe I gave it all up? You gave it all up, did you not?" She asked him and he nodded his head slowly.

"I don't like to live up to other people's expectations. Why should I be what they expect me to be." He confirmed for her and she nodded her head with a small laugh. "I'm not the anti-queen though." He pointed out to her and she sighed.

"I am content being the opposite of Pansy." Ginny said firmly. "Besides, I have a boyfriend and half the school still thinks the two of us are secretly dating." She explained to him and he nodded his head.

"Blaise and I are the anti-kings I take it?" He asked her and she couldn't help but smile. Kind of like how Abigail had Fred and George.

"That doesn't sound as good. Everyone just needs to know you are at the top." She said with a laugh and he nodded his head in agreement, comfortable silence once again taking over them. After a longer pause than before, the fire slowly dying, Ginny finally spoke up again. "I think we would be good together, don't you think so?" She asked him, tilting her head so she was now looking at him.

"No." He said simply, not taking his eyes off of the fire.

"I'm not making a pass at you, I have a boyfriend. I just think we would go very well together." She said to him, surprised that he quickly disagreed like that.

"I highly doubt that." He said, once again simply brushing it off.

"Why?" Ginny demanded, growing slightly frustrated.

"Because I would break your heart." He said, turning his head so he was finally looking at her. They were inches apart and Ginny the strongest urge to just close the gap between them, but she fought against it.

"Maybe I would break your heart." She said with a smirk and he stared at her for a long moment, his eyes glancing towards her lips, then once against meeting her eyes.

"And why would I want that to happen?" He asked her and she laughed, which made his smirk appear again. Ginny glanced down at his smirk, having the strongest desire to kiss the smirk right off his face. She felt herself leaning forward a bit and then felt unsure if Draco was moving as well, but neither of them broke eye contact.

Until Ginny realized that they would be crossing the platonic line, which made her quickly sit up. They had kissed before and that was why she wanted to kiss him now. It couldn't be anything else because she had a boyfriend now.

"I think I'll try to go to sleep." She said and he nodded his head, both of them heading up to their dorms, neither of them tired in the least. However, tomorrow morning they would be going home to their families for two months. The last thing that Ginny could remember thinking about before falling asleep, after getting Draco out of her mind, was wondering what next year would bring.

Another year older, another year wiser, right?

_I tried to be someone else_

_But nothing seemed to change_

_I know now, this is who I really am inside_

_Finally found myself_

_Fighting for a chance_

_I know now, this is who I really am_

_Come break me down_


End file.
